


No Hiding! We do things in Style

by SilverSilver



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF Merlin (Merlin), Fluff, Gen, Good Morgana (Merlin), Happy Ending, M/M, Merlin has an alternate identity, Merlin is a Little Shit, Smitten Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25626424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSilver/pseuds/SilverSilver
Summary: Merlin can't let anyone know he has magic. But Merlin also has to protect Arthur. So he comes up with this brilliant plan of creating a new identity and takes up the name EmrysOr: Merlin is a medieval superhero and Arthur may or maynot be in distress.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 134
Kudos: 404





	1. Chapter 1

When Merlin found out about the prophecy, he immediately decided that there was no way he could let Arthur know that he had magic. But if he was going to use his magic to keep him alive then he might as well do it in style.

That was the reason why he spent three hours perfecting the spell to help him disguise himself. The end result was well…charming. But that was his opinion. He didn’t know what someone else might say about his get up. Maybe they would even think of it as tacky.

The first time he gets to properly show off was when a curse spread across Camelot. A curse that was turning people pale and blue. Gaius had already confirmed to Uther that it was a deadly curse and an investigation was underway.

The first time Arthur met Merlin was on the streets of lower town when he challenged his behaviour. The first time Arthur met Emrys was on the streets of lower town when he challenged his belief.

“What are you trying to accomplish here?” he had demanded

“I’m saving the people of Camelot” had come the reply.

Emrys was…well he was ethereal. The top half of his face and a bit of his cheeks were covered in a green mask. Only his mouth and a bit of his nose was properly visible. He wore a green neckerchief which was soft and looked shiny and was probably worth a lot of money. His shirt of a sky blue colour and his trousers were black.

If Arthur hadn’t seen him interacting with the people of the lower town, he would have assumed he was a forest spirit. He had golden eyes, for the love of god! And complete inky black hair. But This Emrys was no forest spirit. This man was a sorcerer

“And how am I to believe that it is not you who had caused this disease?” Arthur questioned again.

“I haven’t, my lord. But the creature who has is hiding in the pipelines. You can trust me and help me destroy it or you can report me to the king. But just be aware that if you take me to Uther, you will also condemn the lives of every single person that I have helped today. I will burn on the pyre and they will all die with me for consorting with a sorcerer. Even if they did it to save their lives”

Arthur gritted his teeth and gripped his sword stronger. This man dared to stand in front of him all nonchalant and still taunt him?

“You used them. You’re using innocent lives as a cover. I will not forgive this!”

The sorcerer shrugged

“Forgive me or not, by tomorrow I would have lifted the curse on Camelot and then you will all be safe”

Arthur didn’t know what to think. The sorcerer was right. If he reported him to the king then the lives of the lower town folks will be endangered. But he couldn’t just trust this guy to break the curse.

“I’ll come with you” he finally announced “It is my duty as crown prince of Camelot to protect my people”

The smile that he got in return could only have been described as dazzling. 

Turns out Emrys was right. There was a weird creature in the water reserves which was causing all these problems. Emrys very easily and completely singlehandedly took him down. 

“A creature born of earth and water can be defeated by using fire and air” he had said even though nobody had asked him anything. But moments after they had come out of the water pipeline, Emrys disappeared.

That night Arthur had a lot to think. Emrys didn’t seem like he was evil. He definitely helped the lower town folk by healing them all. But that did not absolve him of doubt. He could have very well done it to gain his trust. It could be part of a bigger plan. Arthur was still mostly convinced that Emrys had started the curse anyway.

His own thoughts were killing him. He thought maybe, he should talk to someone about it. He looked at Merlin who was serving him dinner in an exceptionally good mood. Then shook his head and decided against it. It was better to involve less people. 

A week later Merlin drank poison for him and almost died. Arthur travelled to the ends of a cave for him and once again got tricked by a sorcerer. But his time he was also saved by one. A ball of light. A green orb of guiding, protective light. A sorcerer was helping him. A sorcerer was protecting him. And there was only one name on his mind.

Emrys.


	2. Chapter 2: Sir Lancelot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Sir Lancelot

Merlin’s magic helped Lancelot take down the Griffin. He promised him that he would keep his secret for as long it is required for him. Noble, brave Lancelot was ready to risk everything for him. And yet, Merlin knew that once they went back to Camelot, Lancelot will face some form of repercussion.

“Tell them it was Emrys” Merlin said to him “You belong in Camelot and you deserve to be a knight. Tell him the name Emrys and I’ll handle it from there” saying so he ran away before Arthur could wake up and spot him.

“Are you saying you worked with a sorcerer?” Uther’s voice echoed in the castle walls. Lancelot was in front of him, down on his knees and telling them that it was not him but some sorcerer named Emrys who had taken down the Griffin.

“No, my Lord” said the smart knight who knew the rules of the land “I did not work with him. I was fighting the Griffin and he enchanted my lance. That was how it died. Otherwise I believe I would have not been able to defeat the creature. I would have died today just like some of your other knights on duty” he replied in a calm and collected voice.

“Father, please, Lancelot would never knowingly work with a sorcerer. He saved us. He saved me, saved Camelot. Are we really going to punish him for it?” Arthur debated

“He is a good fighter. A truthful and honourable man. We need people like him in our army” he said

Uther stepped back. While it was true that he hated all forms of magic and that he truly believed that magic could do no good, it was also true that Lancelot was a true and honourable man. Lancelot could have been tricked or used. He could give him the benefit of doubt. But that was not his problem. His problem was the fact that Lancelot was not of noble blood.

Arthur because of his young mind and still almost childish behaviour could not see what Uther could. If he made Lancelot knight, none of the other knights will accept it. No man born of nobility would take kindly to a commoner being knighted. His knights would be divided amongst themselves and it would be Sir Lancelot who would suffer the brunt of it all. It could, however, also prove to be a great lesson to the young Prince.

Afterall, there is no teacher greater than regret.

“Arthur” he said directing a stern look towards his son “I will let Sir Lancelot stay and continue as a knight of Camelot. But do remember that this decision is yours and any consequences would be faced by you and you alone”

Arthur may not truly understand his warning right now. But if it taught him a lesson then it would be worth it. Afterall, in his eyes Lancelot was expendable.

;;;;;

“I don’t understand” Arthur finally said. He had to talk to somebody about this or he would go insane.

“I don’t think you understand most things but that’s okay” Merlin replied.

A pillow was thrown in his direction which he dodged and continued on with his duties of putting away the clothes.

“Shut up Merlin! I’m serious here. What do you think Emrys is after?”

“Well he did help Sir Lancelot and in turn all of Camelot so maybe he is just…a good guy?” Merlin shrugged

“Really, Mer _lin,_ that’s your conclusion? That he is a good guy? What if he’s just trying to gain my trust? What if he wants to attack Camelot? Why is he doing all this? First the creature in the pipeline then the caves and now the griffin”

“Maybe his goal is to protect you?”

Arthur shot him a disapproving look

“Or maybe protect Camelot?” he amended

Arthur groaned and sat down on his bed.

“Really Arthur, why don’t you just ask him next time?” Merlin shrugged and closed the cupboard

“I haven’t seen him since the pipeline incident. He hasn’t come around” Arthur moodily replied. It’s not like he wanted to see him again. But if this was going to continue then some answers would be nice.

“And now my Father wants me to find this Emrys so that he can be burned on stake. How am I supposed to do that? I don’t even know where to start looking. I don’t even know what I’m looking for!”

“Then perhaps, you should just wait for him. And when he does appear again, you can ask about his intention”

Arthur rolled his eyes “That’s a wonderful idea Merlin. Why don’t you go much out my stables while I wait for the nature deity to show himself”

Merlin smiled “Nature Deity? Is he really that beautiful?”

“If you don’t get out right now, I will throw you in the stocks!”

;;;;

It took Arthur less than a week to understand that none of the knights liked Lancelot. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that Lancelot might be bullied by the knights. But he had thought that his honour and his humility would win them over as easily as it had Arthur. Clearly he and his knights had very different ideas.

Lancelot didn’t complain. Obviously the knight was too noble for that. So one day Arthur took him out for a drink. Maybe a little alcohol would get him to open up about it.

“So Sir Lancelot, how is the Knight life so far?” he asked

“It’s good sire. I appreciate the training and the patrols are okay” The patrols were probably the time when Lancelot was cornered by the other knights.

“Are the people here treating you well?” Arthur asked hoping this could be the Segway to the conversation. But to his surprise, Lancelot just smiled a bright and real grin. And nodded enthusiastically.

“The servants and the castle staff have been treating me very nicely sire. Merlin always looks out for me and Gwen has been exceptionally kind. The cooks and the stable boys and the squires have all been very helpful. This castle is filled with lovely people, Sire. I am proud to be here”

This stunned Arthur. This was not the answer he was expecting. Nor was it one he really wanted. Who cared how the servants treated you? It was their job to serve. Same with the stable boys and the squires. What did it matter if the cook liked you or not and also…

“What do you mean by Merlin looks out for you?”

That apparently got Lancelot to flush in embarrassment.

“I shouldn’t tell you, Sire. He would be cross with me”

“No, it’s okay. You can tell me. He won’t mind. Afterall I’m his Prince” he said but Lancelot wasn’t convinced

“Honestly, I’m his best friend. Trust me he won’t mind” he tried again

“I thought Gwen was his best friend” Lancelot said

But eventually even the brave knight caved.

“You know how I’m the only knight not born of Noble blood?” Lancelot said and looked at him with caution. Of course this was exactly the conversation he wanted even if he didn’t understand what Merlin had to do with this. But he nodded anyway.

“Well, so you see, not everyone treats me as kindly as you do Sire. Some are subtle about their hostility while others are more open” he shrugged. “But Merlin and all the other servants always look out for me. Warning me of potential traps, warning me of people with malicious intent. Taking care of me. Making sure no one ever tampers with my things or my food or my water. Sometimes it feels like the castle is working together to support me. And nothing feels better than knowing that I have the trust, respect, and support of the people that I am trying to protect.”

Arthur paused. This issue was not only different but it was also somehow bigger than what he had initially thought. And it did give him a moment to think.

Trust, Respect and Support, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing and publishing at the same time so first few chapters will probably be shorter. And the story should pick up around chapter 5 or something.


	3. Excalibur

Arthur had a plan for his coronation. A plan that he had been working on for a while. He had discussed it with Merlin in depth and they had gone through every loophole they could possibly think of. Now the only thing left was to bring it up to his father and get it into motion. A task which was fairly difficult seeing how opposed Uther was to any change.

Which is why timing was vital. And coronation was a good time. There was a possibility that the celebration and overall happiness will make Uther a little more receptive to his idea. That way Arthur could debate his way out of it instead of outrightly being rejected.

It didn’t make him any less nervous for it.

“If I were you ask for something, Sire, would you give it to me?” He said, using the exact same line that he had heard Morgana use constantly.

“It is your coronation Arthur, ask away” his father replied.

“Father, I wish to start a new line of defence. I wish to be able to grant commoners Knighthood and let them join the army”

The room immediately became tense. Uther put his goblet down while Morgana picked up hers.

“Why the sudden idea?” his father asked

“Well, Father. In the light of recent events, it has come to my notice that magical creatures are more, and very different from what I have been taught to believe. If we wish to continue the fight against magic we are going to need more men to do so. And the nobility are few and far. And even with the Nobles comes politics. Everything is easier with Peasants. They come with no expectations and yet have unwavering loyalty. Take Merlin for example, or Gwen or Lancelot. More men like that could do us good”

It was a very rehearsed answer, the wording of which had been changed three times. But it was a surprisingly good answer.

It gave Uther pause. He was considering. Arthur had to stop himself from actively smiling. His father was actually considering the idea! But before any decision could be made, or the matter debated further, the glass on the window broke. From the rummage emerged a knight. Not just any knight.

The Black Knight

Guards and knights immediately filled the room but the Knight ignored them all. He gave them his name and threw down his gauntlet. There were collective gasps around the room. Lancelot went to pick it up but Sir Owain beat him to it.

“I accept your challenge” he said

;;;;

When the Black Knight killed two of his best men, Arthur picked the gauntlet himself. He was angry, beyond himself. He felt utterly helpless and the only way for him forward was to take the challenge himself.

Surprisingly, Emrys came to meet him that night. He came from the window covered completely in a black cloak carrying a bundle in his hands

“It’s you!” Arthur said as he jumped from his bed to meet him “What are you doing here?” he asked

“The Black knight is a wraith” Emrys said “He is the spirit of Tristan De Bois who came here to take revenge from your father. No mortal sword can kill it. So I bring you this instead”

He pulled out his bundle and carefully removed the red cloth around it

“Excalibur. Forged from a dragon’s breath. It is the only thing that can kill a magical creature that powerful” he explained

“You got this for me?” Arthur asked in disbelief

“I forged it specially for you. Arthur, no one is allowed to use this sword other than you. No one at all. You have to promise me that” Emrys said

Arthur took the sword from him. Amazing, light, with perfect balance. It felt right in his hand. He felt strong, powerful with Excalibur in his hand. He inspected it for a moment longer before pointing it in the direction of the sorcerer.

“It can kill magical creatures, right? So this can probably kill you too” Arthur said

Emrys smiled “Yes, it can”

“So tell me Emrys, why are you doing this? What are your intentions?”

For a brief moment all Emrys did was stare. With a gaze intense enough to look directly into Arthur’s soul. Then as if he found all his answers, he lowered his gaze. He went down on one knee while Excalibur remained at his throat.

“I have but one desire, My Lord. That is for you to see that magic is not bad. My loyalty lies with you, Arthur. I have sworn to protect you. And if I can change your mind about magic and help bring it back to Camelot then I will have truly lead a wonderful life”

“Why would you pledge your Loyalty to me?” Arthur asked

“Because I believe in you. Because I believe in the future of Albion, an age of Peace. And I truly believe that you will be a great King that will make it a reality” Emrys said still smiling

“And what if I don’t want your Loyalty? I could run you through with this sword right now and never have to worry about being hurt by magic ever again”

“My Loyalty lies with you. My life is yours to Command. If you want to kill me right now, I will not resist.” He looks directly at Arthur and then closes his eyes in an uncanny display of trust.

And just like that Arthur has every answer he ever needed. He has no doubt that he can kill Emrys right now. But he also has no desire to. Just like his subjects expect him to be a just and fair king, here stood before him, another citizen of Camelot who also wanted the same.

And if Emrys thinks that there is some good in magic then Arthur is willing to learn.

Arthur was fairly certain that Emrys was a very powerful sorcerer. Giaus had practically confirmed it when Arthur had asked. Casting a spell to defeat a griffin? Powerful combat magic. And this guy, this unfairly attractive and extremely powerful guy was swearing his loyalty to him.

“Stand” he commands as he sheaths the sword. Emrys stood up.

“Why is it so important that only I use this sword?”

“Arthur, it was made in Dragon’s breath. It is the most powerful sword to exist. In the wrong hands it can single handedly destroy every magical creature in this realm and in the realm beyond. You are the only one who I can trust with something this important”

Arthur could barely breathe. He knew power. He definitely understood the power that he had as a Prince. But Power so grand that it can destroy ‘every magical creature in this realm and the realm beyond’? That was an immense amount of power. An immense amount of trust.

And this sorcerer was freely giving him that power and that trust. Arthur refused to let him down.

“I give you my word, nobody but me would ever touch this sword”

“Thank you. I must take my leave now” Emrys said turning away

But Arthur didn’t want that. Leaving like that, he had no idea when he would meet him again. If at all, he would be able to meet him again.

“Emrys, wait!” he grabbed his elbow “Will you watch the match tomorrow?”

“I am always watching you Arthur. I will always protect you. No harm will ever come to you as long as I am alive” Emrys smiled

And just as he came in, he disappeared through the window.

;;;;

Next day, after his victory, his father congratulated him and told him the full story of the knight Tristan. Then later that day gave him permission to form his common blood Knights.

Giddy with happiness he almost skipped to his room only to abruptly come to a halt

“MERLIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Startled, Merlin dropped the sword that he was polishing.

“I was polishing the sword. Why are you screaming?”

“You can’t touch that sword!” Arthur commanded

“Why? Someone has to polish it”

“Merlin that’s a very special sword and you’re not allowed to touch it” he said as he took the sword and placed it back in its sheath. He briefly wondered if there was a spell that could make it so that only he was able to unsheathe Excalibur. Afterall if you couldn’t unsheathe it, then you couldn’t use it. He would have to talk to Emrys about it later

“I know it’s engraved and I promise nothing happened to it”

“It’s engraved?” Arthur immediately pulled it out again to examine it. How had he missed it last night?

“And anyway that’s not it. It’s special because Emrys gave it to me. He said it was a very powerful sword and I gave him my word that no one was allowed to touch it”

“No one?” Merlin asked sceptically

“No one!” Arthur answered

“Well then Sire, I suppose you’ll be polishing your own sword”

Arthur squinted his eyes “Well Merlin, I do have other swords that need to be polished. Along with my armour and my chainmail. Not to forget you still need to polish my shoes and polish my floorboards while you’re at it too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked it, please leave a comment! :)


	4. Sophia

Sophia was a beautiful girl. Beautiful was the word that Arthur would describe her with. He would maybe call her cute if someone asked, and if he was really trying to impress her then he would call her gorgeous.

Though he would probably never call her ethereal.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of Sophia. And he couldn’t take his mind off of Emrys. The more he looked at Sophia, the more his heart yearned to be looking at a beautiful masked vigilante. His hand automatically went to the hilt of his sword. He had gotten into the habit of keeping Excalibur with him at all times.

He kept the ever-beautiful sword in a comfortably old sheath and no one ever suspected that he was carrying a creation so powerful. Maybe Emrys hadn’t told anyone about the existence of the sword. Because ever since the wraith incident (Which was almost a month ago) no one had ever come to claim the sword or fight him for it.

Emrys himself had never come to question him about it. One would believe that the existence of something this powerful would warrant regular check-ups. But maybe Emrys just trusted him that much. It honoured him to be trusted this much.

There was one night when he had wondered if Emrys would just disappear from his life, now that he had Excalibur. Afterall he could kill anything he wanted. What use was Emrys’ protection now? But he quickly dismissed that thought. He did not want Emrys out of his life. Not now at least.

“The forest is beautiful” Sophia remarked

“It is” Arthur absently replied. Because damn! The green of the forest did nothing but remind him of the green of the scarf that Emrys always wore. Did he like neckerchiefs the same way Merlin did? Because it would make for an amazing gift. A golden one or maybe a pendragon red.

The thought made him sigh

And then they got attacked.

;;;;

Arthur woke up with a headache.

“What happened?” he groaned. Merlin and Giaus were by his bed likely waiting for him to get up.

“What do you remember?” Giaus asked

“There was a girl” he tried to pull back his memories. Hazy stuff but it was coming back to him. Slowly, in bits and pieces. “Sophia. She was saying something…chanting”

Arthur abruptly sat up “It was a spell! It was magic!” He looked towards his two friends “Did you tell my father?”

“Not yet Sire” Giaus answered

“Good don’t tell him anything. But I want an explanation, right now!”

“Well you see Sire, it was a Love spell” Giaus calmly explained “You became so besotted with Sophia, you demanded to marry her. And afterwards, you even eloped”

“I did what?!” he tried to remember but he truly had no memories of his time under the enchantment.

“Well then how did I escape it?”

He sat up just a little straighter. To his relief, Excalibur was sitting on his desk along with the rest of his armour. Emrys would have killed him if something happened to Excalibur when he was under an enchantment.

“Merlin bought you back” Giaus answered

“Merlin?”

There was no way scrawny little Merlin could have bought him back by himself

“I had a little help” Merlin answered

And that was the answer he was dreading

“No! no, no, no, no, no!”

Merlin and Giaus were both smiling like foxes now

“You were right, sire. He is quite beautiful” Merlin teased

“He was there!” Arthur almost cried. He was there! He came and he saw Arthur making a complete fool of himself. “God he probably lost all respect for me”

He groaned and turned to Merlin

“Well, you might as well tell me the full story”

“So Emrys came”

Arthur nodded

“And he laughed so hard, he fell over”

Arthur groaned and fell back to bed. He dragged a pillow and covered his head with it.

“Please kill me now” he mumbled

“But then he knocked you out. Defeated Sophia and her father who were some creatures called Sidhe. Apparently, they were going to sacrifice you for immortality. He talked to…Oberon? I think his name was Oberon. Any way he talked to the Sidhe leader and asked him if they could give back Sophia and her father the immortality without human sacrifice. The Sidhe leader said he would let them present once more in court but that’s about it. After that, we took your body and came back to Camelot. Emrys is a wonderful guy, really smart. Very charming.” Merlin continued

“Merlin, Shut up!” and thankfully he did for a few minutes.

A few minutes that were enough for Arthur to come up with a plan.

“Giaus! I need to know everything about love spells”

;;;;

There were all kinds of Love spells. From making someone more affectionate to lustful to outrightly controlling their every decision. There were spells, poultices, potions, enchanted objects, and everything in between.

And the reason that there were so many love spells was because they were all relatively weak magic that were really easy to break.

“Most of these are time bound spells. Ranging from one day to one week. As time goes on, the spell wears off.” Giaus explained “And most stronger ones are usually curable with ‘True Love’s Kiss’”

“True Love’s Kiss?” Arthur asked

“It got its name from the village folks but it is not really True Love’s Kiss. But for fairly stronger magic, any person with strong feelings can break it with a kiss. For Example, if you were under a spell then someone who is not your blood but, who has strong feelings for you or someone who you have strong feelings for could kiss you and break the spell. Merlin could kiss you and break the spell. Your knights, perhaps the Lady Morgana or even someone you fancy could break the spell. Loyalty, Devotion, Love, Affection, Care, these are all strong feelings”

Arthur’s mind immediately went elsewhere. To Emrys, kneeling in front of him, chin raised by the tip of his sword, keeping his eyes closed as a sign of utter trust and

Devotion

Arthur’s breath quickened and suddenly the Physician’s chambers were too hot for him. He had this sudden and intense urge to throw himself head first into the cold lake of Avalon.

_If you want to kill me right now, I won’t resist_

Emrys’ voice filled his head and suddenly all he could think of was true Love’s kiss.

Thankfully, Giaus noticed his far away look as he banged a book on his table effectively bringing Arthur back to the present.

“The only problem comes with enchanted objects. In that case the spell won’t wear off until one breaks the object that is spelled”

Arthur’s hand immediately went to the hilt of Excalibur

“And how would one know if they were under an enchantment”

“Well, Sire, they simply wouldn’t. They would do anything for the object of their affection without question. They would never deny them anything. They would see no logic, no reasoning and no rationale. If you are questioning whether or not you are under an enchantment then you are simply not under one. It is usually other people who notice an enchanted person’s weird behaviour. And it is usually other people who put a stop to it”

Arthur relaxed and let go of his sword

“This all seems, well awfully inconvenient” Arthur said. So many spells but usually the same old cures. Why would one go through the trouble?

“Well Arthur before the purge…” Giaus went silent mid-sentence .

“Fear not Giaus, you may speak openly with no repercussions.”

“Very well then. Before the purge, it was mostly used by children or teenagers as harmless pranks. Sometimes during village festivals to make things a bit more interesting. Love spells for the most part are harmless. And the really harmful ones are only a few”

“What?! I was tricked by a children’s spell?”

Behind him, Merlin laughed so hard, he fell over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin meets Emrys when Arthur was conveniently unconscious? Of course!


	5. Nimueh and Morgana

He met Emrys two more times after that. Once when he came to warn him about Edwin and once more when he angrily berated him for killing a unicorn. The Sophia incident was never mentioned. Nor was Excalibur or anything else.

With Edwin, Emrys was angry with the way Giaus was treated. He told Arthur he would steal Giaus away and then Uther would cry. It was not a funny joke but Arthur gave him points for trying. Thankfully the Edwin incident was resolved without any involvement required from Arthur.

In the unicorn incident, Emrys was initially sad. Then proud because Arthur passed the first test. Then disappointed again when he failed the second. He talked to Anhora to get him another test. That was an interesting test because he had to sit across from Merlin and convince him to not die for him. Later when he woke up and found out he was given a sleeping draught, he had the sneaking suspicion that somewhere Emrys was laughing.

That was then. This is now.

Right now Arthur was in his room, in the middle of the night and Emrys had once again broken in.

“This is my fault” he said

“There is no way, this is your fault”

“Tom died, Arthur. I couldn’t save him” Emrys said. He was sitting on the ledge of his window. One leg dangling outside. The fire in his hearth was the only light in the room. But it was burning bright and steady probably because Emrys had magically conjured it as soon as he entered the room.

“Emrys, knights die for me all the time. Yes, I feel guilty. Yes, it hurts. But blaming yourself does nothing. The less you blame yourself, the better it will be for you.”

“He didn’t deserve to die”

“Emrys!”

“You know who deserves to die? Uther” Emrys said with a low, steady but clearly hate filled voice.

“Emrys, do you hate my father?” Arthur asked

“Do you blame me for it? That man killed my entire kind. And with no good reason too. Why did he do it? Why did he start the purge? Why kill so many innocents? You know what the problem is? Uther is too strong. We can never take the fight to him. That’s why sorcerers target either you or the innocent citizens of Camelot. Because all of us, all of us are too weak to take the fight to him”

Arthur was speechless. He had never really thought about that. Yes, he was targeted regularly. And so was Camelot, with drought and disease. But surely his father couldn’t be blamed for everything. He knew the stories, he knew all that his father had said about magic. But he did wonder, more so now than before. What exactly was magic? What made it evil?

“Emrys, can I ask you something?”

He didn’t answer

“Does magic really corrupt?”

Emrys sighed and for the first time that night turned to face Arthur. He looked sad, defeated. His shoulders slumped.

“Is that what you’ve been told?” he asked. Arthur nodded in return because yes, that is what he was told.

“Arthur, people are either born with magic or they are not. Ones who have magic can train in it and learn to control it. Ones who do not have magic can use potions and amulets created by people who have magic. It’s that simple. Magic does not corrupt”

“But if that’s true, then what could be the reason behind the purge?” Arthur asked

“Maybe one day we will find out” Emrys said then fell backwards and disappeared into the night.

;;;;;

When Morgana saved Uther from an assassination that she had helped plan, it had been entirely on instinct. She was lost in thought, emotions and old memories and she had moved unthinkingly to save Uther. She did hate him, but perhaps she didn’t hate him enough to kill him.

That night when she came back to her room, she wasn’t sure if what she did was correct. But she was sure that she would not been getting any sleep tonight.

“I’m almost proud of you Morgana” a voice startled her

“Who’s there?” she immediately scanned the room. The closest dagger was under her pillow, the door was on the other side. The man who had addressed moved from the shadow into the light. He was wearing an uneven green mask that covered most of his face. A green neckerchief and a black cloak.

“My name is Emrys, My Lady” the man bowed “I am here to help you”

“Help me? I do not need your help” she immediately replied.

“Forgive me for not introducing myself properly. I am Emrys, protector of Magic”

“Magic?”

“I was always sceptical about you Morgana. But today you have proved to me that you truly have a good heart. If there ever comes a time when you need my help, just know that I will be there for you”

Just like he had come in, the man silently disappeared

;;;;

“I need to talk to you” Merlin said as he barged into Arthur’s room.

“You still haven’t got it have you? I decide when we need to talk”

“Not today” Merlin replied

“I sometimes wonder if you know who I am”

“Oh I know who you are. You’re a Prat. A Royal one”

Arthur smiled “Are you ever going to change Merlin?”

“No, you’d get bored. Promise me that that if you get another servant, don’t get a bootlicker.”

“If this is you trying to leave your job..”

“No, I’m happy to be your servant till the day I die.”

Arthur finally looked at him

“Sometimes I think I know you Merlin. Other times…”

“Well, I know you. You’re a great warrior. One day you’ll be a great king”

“That’s very kind of you”

“But you must learn to listen as good as you fight.”

“Any other pointers?”

“No, that’s it. Just…don’t be a prat”

With that Merlin left the room. Arthur decided to let him be for the time being. Clearly Merlin was in some weird headspace again. Tomorrow though, he would catch him and scold him properly.

The next day when he was finally able to catch Merlin it was evening.

“Explain, now! What was with that half-assed goodbye yesterday?” he demanded. Because he had had time to thinking. And he had come to the conclusion that it was a half assed goodbye. He could hardly believe it. Brave, Loyal Merlin would just leave him? Without answers, without explanations and without even a proper goodbye?! Why on earth would he do that?

But when he had entered the Physician’s quarters, he was surprised to see that Gwen and Giaus were the only ones there.

“Where’s Merlin?” he demanded again

“Please, Sire keep your voice down. Merlin is asleep. His mother has been very ill for the past few days and she has just started recovering. Merlin has been worried sick” Gwen said

_‘Oh’_ he thought _‘Is that what happened? He was going to leave with his Mother? But then why not tell me about it? I could help’_

“Can I meet them?” he asked

“Perhaps tomorrow” Giaus answered.

;;;;

Late at night his usual visitor appeared again.

“You know what, I’m getting used to this” Arthur said. The wind had woken him this time. It was raining heavily outside and still Emrys was dry.

“Aren’t you cold?” he asked “Emrys?”

“I killed someone today” he said voice low and hoarse.

Arthur immediately got up. He grabbed a jacket from his table and half way realised that he couldn’t properly wear it with one arm in a sling.

“What happened?” he asked dropping the jacket and resigning himself to the cold.

“I killed someone today. She did not deserve to die. When I heard you were dying, I went to the Isle of the blessed. To exchange my life for yours”

Lightening struck in that moment briefly lighting up the room

“The Magical world is about balance. To save a life, you must give up another. You can decide who to save but you cannot decide who to give up. The more precious the life you want to save, the more precious the life that will be taken in return. I made a wrong assumption that it would be mine”

“Who…” Arthur was interrupted by the sound of thunder.

“My Mother. Fell gravely ill and was dying. I went back to the High Priestess Nimueh. Asking her, begging her to please take my life instead. But even the high priestess has no control over that”

“Did you lose your mother?” Arthur asked

Emrys shook his head “I killed Nimueh. The balance got restored and My mother was saved. But still, she did not deserve to die. I have blood on my hands Arthur. Blood that I wrongly took. Blood that was never mine to take. I am the protector of magic and yet I did such an act”

Arthur could think of nothing to say that would help Emrys. There was nothing comforting about murder. Instead he grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. He made him sit on his bed and covered him in his blankets. He closed the windows and added more logs to the wood. Then came back and sat next to him.

“I’m sorry Emrys. I truly am” he said with all his sincerity.

“There’s something else”

“I’m here” he assured

_I’m listening. I’m here for you. Whatever you need_

“I found out why Uther started the purge”

“Oh? Why did he?”

“I fear you are not ready to hear the answer” Emrys said “But I want to tell you anyway. You won’t be able to bear it, I know. And yet, I want to trust you anyway. I don’t know what to do Arthur. I trust you so much and I fear, I fear you will hate me for telling you”

Emrys turned and tucked himself in Arthur’s side. Arthur put his uninjured arm around his waist

“I will not hate you, Emrys. I might not be ready to hear the truth, but I promise you I will think of it and form an informed, rational opinion”

This much at least he owed him

“Ygraine was barren. Nimueh was Uther’s court sorcerer. When Uther wanted a heir, he made the same exchange that I did today. A life for a life. But when you were born and magic took your mother’s life, he was not able to handle it. And in his rage, he condemned thousands of innocents to their deaths”

;;;;;

Arthur had no one who would tell him the truth. He couldn’t possibly ask his father and Giaus was honour bound to not tell him the truth. If his father found out that Giaus had told him about his birth then he would be put to death.

Angry and distressed, he made his way to Morgana. She was the most intelligent person in this castle. Surely she would have an idea.

“Do you know why the purge started?” he asked once he entered the room.

“Magic killed Queen Ygraine. Uther lost his head” she immediately replied and went back to brushing her hair

“How do you know that? Didn’t my mother die in childbirth?” he asked

“I don’t know the details Arthur but I do know that she died because of something magic related. It made Uther angry and he blamed the very existence of magic. Then he started a war against magic by killing every and all magic users in Camelot. And also” she turned to face him while he had made himself comfortable on her bed “Everyone knows that. It’s common knowledge. Even my parent knew it. So I know it”

Oh yes. Morgana was ten when she had come to Camelot. She wasn’t bought up with the same ideals that he was. She probably wasn’t told the same stories.

“Do you think my father killed a lot of innocents”

“The whole of Albion knows that your father killed a lot of innocents” Morgana immediately quipped back

“Now you tell me, why are you suddenly interested in the talks of the past. What happened?” she asked

“I met someone. Someone who forced me to think about magic and ask uncomfortable questions. Those uncomfortable answers that I found have now lead to more uncomfortable questions” Arthur answered

Morgana had a thoughtful look on his face

“Was it a man in a mask?” she asked

There was one flicked of uncertainty in his eyes and to Morgana that was enough

“You met him too? The man named Emrys?” she asked him

“You know Emrys?” Arthur asked equally surprised

“How do you know Emrys?” Morgana questioned

“No, no way. You answer me first. How do you know Emrys?”

There was a few moments of silence.

“Emrys saved my life. Not once but a bunch of times. I was sceptical of him at first. But he has proved himself loyal again and again. I trust him Morgana. I trust him as much as I trust Merlin”

And really, for Arthur Pendragon that really was the height of trust. Camelot knew Merlin as a loyal fool. Yet very few knew just how much Arthur himself reciprocated that trust and loyalty.

It made everything easier for Morgana. After days of doubt. She was able to breathe.

“Arthur I need to tell you something” she said. This was it. The moment of truth. “But you cannot think of me differently. Promise me”

“I promise Morgana”

“I have magic” she whispered “The nightmares that I have been constantly suffering from are not nightmares but premonitions. I can see things. Sometimes I can set things on fire.”

Arthur took a deep breath and sighed. He should have expected this the moment Morgana said she knew Emrys. He waited for a moment. For the familiar feelings of anger and betrayal to take over him. Yet one look at Morgana’s fearful face and the only thing he could think of was how scared she must be.

Instead of anger and grief, he was filled with sympathy and a desire to protect. He stood up and went over to hug Morgana

“This changes nothing between us Morgana. I think of you no differently. I will protect you from Uther, if push comes to shove.”

Morgana hugged Arthur tighter and cried in his shoulders. She had been so filled with fear for so long now that this simple act of comfort was enough to undo her.

That night, Arthur found his answers and Morgana found her support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are finally forming some kind of Plot. Big plans for Morgana. Stay tuned ;)


	6. Gwaine and the Knights

The problem with having super secretive magical friends was that there was never really any time to just sit and talk about things. Emrys came to him when there was danger and occasionally when he needed comfort. Case in point: his last visit when he was upset about Nimueh.

But Arthur had no way to meet him and talk to him. He couldn’t just summon him or invite him to meet him somewhere. And so there was never an opportunity to tell him that Arthur trusted him. That he now knew the truth of his birth and was ready to learn more about magic. There was no time to sit and talk about Morgana, or the druids or just about each other in general.

It really put Arthur in a bad mood

“That’s the fifth sigh I’ve heard today Arthur. Are you sure you’re feeling well?” Merlin asked him

“I’m fine I just…want to talk to Emrys”

“Ah! Are you perhaps missing him?” Merlin teased

“Shut up Merlin. This isn’t about that. I need to talk to him about Magic”

Arthur hated with a passion those rare moment when Merlin was insightful. He just didn’t understand how his idiotic clumsy manservant had figured out that he was crushing on a sorcerer. But once he had, the teasing had been relentless. Arthur couldn’t go ten steps without hearing an Emrys related comment directed his way.

What was worse was that Merlin, the gossiping girl that he was had already told Morgana about it. So not only did he have to suffer Merlin’s insolence but now he had to suffer Morgana’s innuendoes as well.

And with all this, he still had absolutely no idea how to talk to the man himself. Emrys was…nowhere. It was like he disappeared or something.

_Damnit!_

He decided then that he would just have to find a way to form a two-way communication the next time he visited. If at all, he stayed long enough for it.

For now though, he was going to use all his energy and concentration to train his new batch of knights. His idea of having common bred knights, was not well received by the other Knights of Camelot. As a result Uther had started objecting against it again.

They had however come to a compromise. Most of it was because of Morgana’s help and influence. Arthur could have a small set of Common bred Knights that he would train. And if they showed him skill in battle then they would allow for more common bred knights to be taken in the Camelot army.

So far in his little group he had Lancelot, his friend Percival, Gwen’s brother Elyan and Camelot’s first knight Leon who insisted on being a part of Arthur’s group instead of being with the others.

With these men, he continued training. Since there were no wars in the foreseeable future, Arthur had placed a wager against his father. If in the coming tournament any of his knights, win then he would reward all of them with their formal title of Knights and a fair place in Camelot’s army.

Now if only he could get the other knights to back off and treat them like actual human beings for once. Every single one of them (with the exception of Leon) treated the new knights like garbage. It was driving Arthur insane. Even if one of them won the tournament that was happening in a month’s time, it was going to be nearly impossible to get all the knights to work together.

That was until Gwaine showed up

He showed up one day smiling, flirting and somewhat drunk and demanded to meet the Prince. Merlin, the kind hearted fool that he was arranged for the meeting.

“I came to Camelot to become a knight” Gwaine said

“And to which noble house do you belong?” Arthur asked

Gwaine had the audacity to smile “I heard this was a place for equal opportunity. Or tell me, was Emrys wrong?”

“How do you know Emrys?” Arthur immediately demanded

“We’re friends. He sheltered me for the night once. Then when I saved him from a fight he suggested I come to you. I’ll tell you right now, I hate nobles and everything to do with nobility but if it is true that you are giving peasants a chance to be knights then I wish to try.”

Arthur game him an appraising look. He definitely looked the part of a hired bodyguard but it seems like he was not one. He had his own sword. He stood and carried himself with Pride.

And he knew Emrys

Arthur smiled

“The challenge is to last one minute against me in swordfight”

That was usually the final challenge reserved for those who had finished training and were ready to be knighted. Elyan, Percival and even Lancelot had started from lower than that. They had started from daily training and drills. So had Leon but he had started his training from the young age of 13.

There was no way this Gwaine was going to last. And when he visited him next, Arthur would gloat to Emrys’ face about the loss of his precious friend.

Gwaine lasted a minute. In fact he lasted longer. Right from the beginning Gwaine had started taunting Arthur. This served its purpose of angering the young Prince. What was supposed to be a one minute challenge turned into a full 30 minute fight and in the end Arthur’s sword was removed in a manoeuvre that he had never seen before.

“You have to teach me that” he excitedly said “Sir Gwaine”

;;;;

Gwaine had proved himself to be un-ignorable. Within the week of his arrival in Camelot, every single castle member had come to know his name. He had flirted with half the castle and defeated all the knights in training.

But Arthur had already expected that the moment Gwaine had decided to taunt him into fighting. What was surprising, however was how easily Gwaine was able to get people to get along. His Noble blood knights who never bothered with the Common bred ones were now sharing food and laughing with them.

Servants who were subservient and scared were now joking around with the knights. Morgana who was never allowed on training grounds was now openly challenging and defeating his knights.

And all these seemingly random changes had happened simply due to one man’s infectious personality. Begrudgingly, he had to admit that maybe, just maybe Emrys was a good judge of character.

;;;;;;

Camelot’s tournament came and went. To no one’s surprise it was Sir Gwaine who won. But all his other knights had reached top positions. There was no official ranking system for tournaments. But Arthur and Morgana had designed their own when they were younger and still stuck to the same rules of scoring now when they were older.

According to those calculations, Sir Gwaine had come first, Sir Lancelot third, Sir Leon was seventh and Sir Perceval was eighth. Sir Elyan had come tenth. In a tournament of Fifty participants.

He had expected much anger from his father but it seems that he was able to unintentionally impress him. His Father, now much more open to the idea of common bred knights had arranged for the knighting ceremony that very same evening.

A closing celebration was arranged where Gwaine got way too drunk but everyone had fun. His knights were getting along, Morgana was doing much better and the servants were happy. Arthur was truly at peace.

When he woke up the next morning with a killer hangover there was breakfast on his table and a hangover cure from Giaus. Arthur smiled appreciatively. He was in a really good mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to write more and come up with a better plot for the story so updates will be once or twice a week now. (I will try to do alternate days but no promises)  
> Can you tell that Gwaine is my fav character? I just wanted all the knights of the roundtable in the story even though I don't really know what I'm going to do with them yet.  
> If you liked the story, let me know :)


	7. Your Father married a Troll

“Your Father married a Troll”

The new voice took him by surprise and on instinct he turned around with his sword unsheathed and ready to attack. Only when he noticed who it was he was talking to, did he lower his weapon.

“Emrys!”

“Do be careful Arthur, that sword can kill me, you know” Emrys said unimpressed as he remained leaning on the wall.

“Right, sorry about that. Maybe you shouldn’t try sneaking up on me then if you don’t want to be killed” Arthur said as he placed his sword back into it’s sheath.

“I wouldn’t have to if your room wasn’t so guarded”

“So what, you just want me to leave my room unguarded so that you can come and go whenever you please? You already do that anyway”

“Oh please Arthur, you make it sound like I’m your secret lover” Emrys teased and Arthur immediately blushed.

“Unfortunately that’s not what I’m here for. Your father is under troll enchantment and we should really do something about it”

“Right, that. Any idea how?” Arthur asked

“You’re not going to like it” Emrys replied

“Now why does that sound familiar? Ah, maybe because that’s exactly how almost all of our previous conversations have been about. _You won’t like the truth of your father Arthur, You won’t like what I have to say about Edwin Arthur, You won’t like the legend of the unicorn, Arthur!_ How have we been friends for so long and you still don’t think I trust you?”

“We are friends?” Emrys asked with real surprise in his eyes.

Arthur wanted to hit him! And maybe hug him as well

“Of course we are friends!”

“But I’m magic?” he tilted his head in confusion

“And you’re still alive aren’t you? God Emrys, I swear you’re thicker than my idiotic manservant! Yes, Emrys we are friends! I trust you. I know you protect me. I know what you told me about my father is true. But how are we ever going to right these wrongs of I have no way to contact you?”

Arthur took a deep breath. Then moved forward and put both his hands on Emrys shoulder’s. Maybe shaking him would put some sense into him

“Understand?” He said as he tried to rock him back and forth.

Emrys laughed. Then he put his own hands around Arthur’s neck and hugged him tight

“Thank you” he whispered

He stayed there for a while. Just enjoying the closeness and the fresh smell of the forest. God, he was never going to be able to go hunting or camping or on a quest and not think of Emrys. When he finally let go, Arthur had to take a few deep breaths to steady himself.

“Now, how do we break the troll enchantment?”

“Oh god, you’re really, really not going to like this now”

;;;;;

Arthur should be shocked that Emrys wanted him to drink poison. But he was more shocked over the fact that apparently Giaus knew Emrys. Because they had researched and come up with this solution together.

“You know Emrys?” was the only thing he could ask once they had explained the plan to him

Giaus’ eyebrow was judging him “Is that really want you want to ask right now?”

“I got the plan Giaus. Poison, tears, antidote. Doesn’t matter. I trust Emrys to be on time. But how do you know him?” Arthur asked once again because really that was the most important piece of information right now.

“Taking care of you Arthur, is a full time job! You really should be less surprise that I have a team for it” Emrys replied from the other side of the room

“That’s even worse! I have more questions now, Emrys!”

“Too bad sire, we don’t have much time to answer all of them. Here, poison”

If someone told Uther than one day his son would willingly drink poison given to him by a sorcerer then he would have beheaded them. And maybe Arthur was an idiot, but he was going forth with it anyway.

;;;;;

He woke up on his own bed with Giaus tending to him. He was a little disoriented and his body felt sluggish.

“Did it work?” he asked

“Indeed it did, Sire. But you must rest some more. It will take a few more hours for the poison to completely leave your body”

“I’m glad. Thank you Giaus”

Gaius bowed

“There’s something I want to ask you.” Arthur

“Sire, I cannot reveal Emrys’ identity to you. He is important to me and I would not like to put him in danger”

“Yes, yes, I had figured that out. Don’t worry I don’t want to know his identity. Can you just ask him to meet me? Some day when he is free. I have questions I want to ask, things that I want to talk to him about without having some imminent danger around us”

“I will pass on the message Sire”

“Thank you Giaus”

;;;;;;

There was a hand on his shoulder. There was an intruder in his room. But Arthur was trained to kill since birth. With one hand he pulled the intruder, then rolled over so he had them pinned under him on the bed. He pulled the dagger from underneath his pillow and immediately placed it near the intruder’s neck.

“Who are you?” he demanded

“How is it that you can fight half asleep but you refuse to wake up most mornings?”

There was a click of fingers and then all the candles in his room were lit. With the light he could finally see the face of the intruder

“Emrys!” he relaxed just a bit but didn’t move to get up

“You didn’t wake up when I came in so I thought I should wake you up instead. By the way, Very impressive fighting skills, Sire. But you know, kind of useless against a sorcerer”

With a mischievous grin and a flicker of his eyes, Arthur was now floating in air. He flailed a bit and almost dropped his dagger but he remained in the air like as though suspended.

“Emrys! This isn’t funny! Put me down”

“No I don’t think I will”

Emrys stretched himself on the bed. He removed his black cape and it floated over to join Arthur’s red one on his chair. Then as though he owned the place, he laid down and got comfortable in Arthur’s blankets.

“God, Arthur your bed is so comfortable”

“Emrys! Get me down right now!” Arthur demanded

Emrys regarded him for a moment. And then the magic was gone and Arthur fell on the bed right next to Emrys. The whole bed shook because of the sudden fall and one of the pillows landed on the floor.

Emrys for his part was laughing and Arthur just groaned.

“I hate you” he said

“Too bad” replied the sorcerer.

Arthur let himself get comfortable only after he was sure that the sorcerer was not going to play any more tricks on him. Emrys had apparently decided that he was going to sleep in the Prince’s bed that night. He looked comfortable and warm and Arthur did not want to disturb him.

And also the thought that the great and mighty Emrys was sharing his bed made his heart go fuzzy with feelings. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be this happy about it. He knew that this would for the most part be just platonic bed sharing. But it still made his heart race.

“I know you wanted to talk about something but I’ve had a very long day” Emrys whispered. He was laying on his side, facing Arthur but his eyes were closed. He really did look dead tired.

“You had a long day? I almost died Emrys. What did you do all day?”

“I spent hours researching troll magic and then hours researching poison. Do you even realise how much I freaked out when Giaus suggested we give you poison? I wanted to give you a sleeping draught instead so that you would be in a coma like state for three days. But Gaius said it wouldn’t be enough incentive to make Uther actually shed tears of remorse”

Emrys might have been scolding him. But he sounded more relieved than anything.

“I’m sorry for freaking you out. But next time you want to make my father cry, we should target the Lady Morgana”

Emrys laughed

“Everyone does love The Lady Morgana” he said

“My father definitely adores her” Arthur said

“so do the servants” Emrys said

“So do my knights. Constantly competing on who can win her heart”

“The lower town folks are always rushing to give her gifts” Emrys replied

“I’m convinced even my animals are in love with her” Arthur said

“I’m convinced that she can win the five kingdoms with nothing more than the goodness of her heart!” Emrys said.

Emrys opened his eyes and found a smiling Arthur. They both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“I can’t believe your father married a troll!” Emrys said which made Arthur laugh louder

“Morgana is never going to let him live this down!”

They laughed for a few more minutes, then quieted down. There was no sound as Arthur and Emrys just stared at one another. Arthur had wanted to talk to Emrys. So many things he wanted to say. But he didn’t want to shatter the moment with his words.

Instead he reached out and combed some of the black hair away from his face

“Arthur” he whispered his name.

He placed his own hand over Arthur’s, then entwined their fingers. Pulling it away from his hair, he bought them down to his lips and kissed them gently.

“I think I’m in love with you” Emrys confessed

And it was enough to break all resistance inside of him. His own feelings were ready to spill out.

“Emrys” was all he could say.

Next thing he knew, he was kissing Emrys. He was kissing the ethereal forest spirit with a prayer like passion. There was no room for doubts, no questions, no words. The only thing he could think of was Emrys, Emrys, Emrys

The sorcerer’s hands were all over his body. Cold just like the night, leaving nothing but fire in their wake.

Arthur tugged at his neck scarf and it came out with no resistance. Emrys was apparently using his magic to do things like un-knot his own scarf. It made Arthur smile. And he continued smiling as he kissed every bit of skin that he could find.

For a few minutes, they did nothing more than kiss. Then Emrys put a stop to it. With gently guiding fingers, he pushed Arthur away and back to his original position of resting next to him.

“Emrys?” Arthur asked but the reassuring smile that he got was enough to convince him that everything was still okay.

“I don’t want to go any further without you knowing exactly who I am”

“Are you going to tell me now?”

Emrys shook his head “The punishment for sorcery is death”

“I will never report you. I won’t let anything happen to you” Arthur said

“I know. I trust you Arthur. But I promised Giaus that I would only reveal myself to you once you are King”

Arthur thought about it. That was, surprisingly fine for him. Emrys won’t tell him until he was king and until then, he was also not allowed to take this any further. It was enough for Arthur. He could work with these boundaries

“It’s okay Emrys. I can work with your boundaries. Can I still kiss you?” he asked

“Yes” Emrys replied

“Can I kiss you now?” Arthur playfully asked

Emrys just smiled and leaned back in.

;;;;

Arthur woke up alone. He wasn’t surprised. He expected Emrys to slip out sometime during the night, anyway. He stretched his body and just couldn’t stop smiling.

Last night he had also realised something important. He had no desire to find out who Emrys really was. He should have been more curious. Anyone in his position would want to know the about the sorcerer. But he had no such curiosity.

This, he figured, was because he already knew Emrys. The only thing that Emrys hid from him was his face. He had told Arthur everything else about him. Maybe he even knew Emrys better because he didn’t know who he really was.

He didn’t hide his magic, his devotion, his desire, nothing. He told Arthur exactly what he thought of his father and cried in his arms when he thought he failed someone. Arthur may not know who Emrys was but Arthur knew Emrys!

Anyway, Arthur had decided that morning that he would not push Emrys to reveal himself. But he would definitely spend more time kissing him, now that he was allowed to.

So happy was he with the new turn of events that he didn’t throw a single thing at Merlin when he invariably came late with his breakfast that morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: There will be no romance in this chapter  
> Merlin: Confesses his love for his prince  
> Me: Damn You!
> 
> Hahaha writing this was fun but damn am I tired!
> 
> Anyway, next update will only be on Monday
> 
> Have a great weekend!!


	8. Magic and Morgana

Even since that day, his routine changed. Every single night, Emrys would slide into his room through the window and join him in bed. There they would talk a lot, kiss a little and sometimes fall asleep together.

Emrys usually preferred to leave than fall asleep there because “Leaving in the morning is harder, Arthur. There are more guards and they are actually awake in the mornings”

They discussed a lot of things. Magic, politics, his father’s rule, the upcoming feast, the knights and really just all sorts of things.

;;;;;

“I can’t imagine a world where magic will be free. It just seems like such a far-fetched idea to me” Arthur confessed

“Perhaps that is the beauty of it all. You will get to create a world that you never even knew could possibly have been made.” Emrys replied

“It all just seems so hard”

“Don’t worry, Arthur. You’ll always have me, and your knights, and Morgana and tons of people who will openly support you once you are king.” Emrys smiled

;;;;

“Show me magic” he said and there were flowers in his room

“Show me magic” he said and Emrys created butterflies out of nothing

“Show me magic” he said and the colours of his drapes changed

“Show me magic” he said and there were lips on his

;;;;

“You know I’m terrible with a sword” Emrys confessed one night

“Yeah? Maybe I can teach you. I’m the best swordsman in Camelot”

“Oh, Please Arthur. I could defeat you with my eyes closed”

“With your magic! Not with a sword”

“Who needs a sword when you’ve got magic?” Emrys winked

;;;;

Morgana was getting progressively worse. The nightmares turned into premonitions and the fear turned to fire. She was scared and hurting. Her growing powers provided her no comfort.

“I need to talk to him again”

She was able to corner Arthur in his room one day. Earlier in the day when he had just woken up. Merlin was in the room getting Arthur ready for his morning training.

“Merlin you can leave us” Arthur said

“Merlin knows” Morgana immediately replied.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Arthur looked shocked but Merlin merely shrugged

“Wasn’t my secret to tell”

“And since when can you keep a secret?”

“You’d be surprised”

Morgana rolled her eyes, not even the slightest bit surprised about their constant banter.

“Are you both done?” she asked them

“Well, who else knows?” Arthur asked

“Gwen does. Gwen, Merlin and You. The people I trust the most”

Arthur smiled. It was nice to know that Morgana had people she could rely on even through the fear and the uncertainty. It was even better to know that you were considered trust worthy enough to be able to share her secret.

“Okay, tell me everything. What do you need Emrys for?”

“My powers, they just keep increasing. The fire in my room, it wasn’t normal. It was me. Arthur I know it was me” Morgana said, scared, like she was going to cry. Arthur immediately put his hands on her shoulders comforting her with soft touches

“It’s okay Morgana. You’ve got us” he said

“I’ll go tell Emrys. I’m sure he’ll be able to come up with something” Merlin said

“You know Emrys?” Morgana suddenly asked. “Why did you never tell me?”

“I know lots of things Morgana. None of them are my secrets to tell” Merlin replied

“Let it be Morgana. Emrys is probably just as scared as you are. Maybe even more, considering he’s more powerful than your average sorcerer.”

“I can understand Arthur. Living in fear, hiding who you are. Constantly being unsure of yourself. Not even trusting your closest friends to accept you. If anything, I think I understand him best” Morgana replied

For a moment no body spoke as Morgana’s words cut through the air. It really was a dangerous game they were all playing. And in it, they were all accomplices. They were committing treason by merely existing.

Arthur felt a shiver go down his spine. He was the Prince of Camelot and he was scared. Morgana was the ward of Camelot under her protection and she was beyond herself due to fear. How had the every day person with magic survived? How scared they must have been during the purge. With no where to go and no body to help them out.

At least Morgana and Arthur had Emrys. But who did Emrys have? If he lived in Camelot how did he survive? How scared he must have been while growing up? How many executions had he seen?

“Merlin” he said finally breaking the silence that had been set on the room like a spell “Do you need the day off?”

“Uhhh…I’m not sure Sire”

“Merlin, Emrys is strong but even he doesn’t know everything. I know you’re a fast student. If you and to help Emrys and Giaus do research then I can give you the day off. As far as anyone else is concerned, you’ll just be off sick”

Merlin immediately nodded, easily understanding Arthur’s train of thoughts.

“Of course Arthur. In fact I think I feel sick right now. I’ll maybe go”

“Good. Well Morgana, would you like to help me train the knights today?” Arthur said turning to Morgana who visibly perked up

“Sure!”

“Oh, Morgana keep your window open tonight” Merlin said as he neared the front door

“Wait, are you the one who keeps the windows of my room open at night?” Arthur asked

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Arthur” Merlin said but ran away from the room anyway.

Arthur turned to Morgana only to see her smirking.

“Late nights?” she innocently asked

“Shut up Morgana” Arthur half-heartedly replied

;;;;;

As predicted by Merlin, Emrys did come to visit Morgana that night. But where he was expecting only Morgana, he instead found her, Gwen and Arthur all sitting in the room, waiting for him.

“You’re late” Arthur said

“I know how to sneak into your room. I had to figure out how to get here” Emrys replied

“Perhaps next time, I can help” Gwen immediately offered.

Emrys nodded.

“Well did you find anything?” Morgana asked

“A bunch of things. It’s good that you’re all here. I have something for you but it won’t be enough”

Saying so he took out a bracelet. It was old looking but it had emeralds embedded in it. And all over its relative size were engravings.

“It’s like a suppressant. You can wear it while you sleep so at the very least you will be able to get some rest” he said giving the bracelet to Morgana. Gwen and Morgana immediately huddled together to examine it.

“But as far the extent of your powers are considered, you needs someone to teach you Morgana. And I can’t do that. I’m many things but a seer is not one of them. Our only hope is the druids. They are the only people left with any understanding of powerful magic” Emrys continued

“But there is no way we can take her to the druids. Or get the druids here in Camelot” Arthur argued

Emrys nodded “Hence the bracelet. Till we can take you away and get you to safety, the bracelet should help”

“What do you mean, get me away?” Morgana asked

“Well, I was talking to the Druid leader about it and we came up with a plan”

“A Plan?”

“Well half a plan. It’s a good plan but the execution will be difficult” he said

“Fine. Tell us the plan first. We’ll work on the execution later” Arthur said

“Morgana, correct me if I’m wrong but your father was a king right?”

“Yes. King to the border few villages. One who reported directly to Uther.” Morgana replied

“Then if you ask, he should allow you to take your father’s position, right?”

“Go back to my old castle then? Take care of the villages?”

“Yes. The villages which are conveniently near the borders. The borders which are surrounded by forests. The forests which house the Druids” Emrys smiled as he said the words

“That’s not actually a bad idea. It might just work. But we will need to convince my Father first” Arthur said

“I think I can convince him. It will take some time though.” Morgana said

“I’ll leave it to you then. I should go now. You know how to find me” And out the window he went.

That night Morgana slept rather peacefully. The next few days she would be busy in planning. She no longer wanted to live in fear. She would do this right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I write this story, the more I hate it. Has this ever happened to anyone? I think I'm good at writing this, I just don't think I like writing it anymore.
> 
> Anyway, next update will be on thursday


	9. Update

We're halfway, Kinda halfway into the story so I just wanted a take a moment and thank every single one of you who has been reading. Thank you for reading, for leaving kudos, comments, really just thank you so much for giving this story the time of your day.

In the last chapter I said that I was starting to hate this story. It's not the story's fault. I believe it's mostly just the stress. College has restarted and it's really just another useless thing on my plate. I'm hoping that by the end of next week my life will slow down into some sort of timetable.

As far as the story is considered, most of it is already outlined. It's just waiting to be written (and edited). So I'm not abandoning it. I definitely plan to finish it. I'm currently going at two updates per week but if I need to slow down I will let you know. My comments and update schedule will be there at the end notes, as always.

Once again, thank you so much for the love you have bestowed upon this story and upon its writer (AKA me). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys, I love you all <3  
> Next chapter will be up on Thursday


	10. True Love's Kiss

The Peace treaty between the five kingdoms was a big deal. It was important that everyone was on their best behaviour. There could be no negligence in the hospitality of Camelot. This was an important chance to be able to establish Camelot as a powerful and important ally.

The Kings of the five kingdoms had come bearing both gifts and smiles. Only half of which were fake.

“Remember Merlin, this has to go perfectly. It could be a very good opportunity for Morgana to talk to the King and get permission to leave” Arthur said. They were in his room. Arthur was eating breakfast and Merlin was picking the clothes he would wear for the day.

“Oh I’m not worried. You’re the one who’s nervous” Merlin said

“I’m not nervous Merlin”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just…Morgana and I are both going to be stuck in meeting all day for three days. And I really, really just want this to go well. Not only for Camelot but also for Morgana. And I need to know this treaty inside out because when I become king and we need to change the laws then I would need this treaty to still hold up”

Arthur was rambling. When he finally finished and looked up from his food he saw Merlin smiling proudly at him. Merlin did that sometimes. Arthur was sure that he had no idea what he looked like right now. But every now and then Merlin would look at Arthur filled with pride and it always made him feel better. Merlin believed in him and in his potential as King. It made his burden a little easier.

“I’m sure it will all be fine Arthur. Plus you’ll have Morgana there with you. She’ll know what to do. She’s very smart” Merlin said cheekily. Arthur threw an apple at him which he caught and started eating.

It didn’t take very long for Merlin to get distracted from what he was doing and go look out of the window instead. Really Arthur couldn’t blame him. He was probably star eyed at all that nobility. That, or he was laughing at their inability to not be able to do anything by themselves. Knowing Merlin, it could be either

“See something you like?” he asked as he came near the window to see what it was that Merlin was seeing. The first people he spotted were King Olaf and his daughter Lady Vivian.

“Ah, The Lady Vivian. So famous is her beauty that there are various songs written about them. But I wouldn’t get too close if I was you. She has a terrible personality. And Olaf is ridiculously protective of her” he briefed Merlin.

They both silently watched as Lady Vivian got down from her horse and three different servants followed her, each carrying so many things that it looked like they were going to fall over.

“Attending to her will be a pain” Merlin said

“Indeed, it will. Make sure she gets a competent servant. And You, stick close to me. I don’t want you single handedly dishonouring Camelot by being the world’s worst servant”

Arthur was sure that he had insulted Merlin. But the smile that he received made him reconsider. Whatever, Merlin could get bored with him and Morgana in the meetings.

Or so he had wanted. But Gwen had immediately snatched him up and the both of them had gone to finish their duties.

Before the meetings officially began, there was a small celebration. King Alinad’s jester entertained the masses and Camelot’s servants were responsible for making sure everyone had enough food and Wine. After the celebration, the boring meeting would officially start.

The meeting was over fairly quickly. Arthur had spent most of the time just passively listening. One of his hand was constantly on Excalibur. There were kings of five different kingdoms here and a lot of secrets that must be kept. It did make him feel a little on edge.

First days were usually easy. Everyone was well behaved. The second day was the one that would involve all the screaming and the debating. Arthur just hoped that by the end of it all, he doesn’t have a headache.

He went back to his room, changed into a more comfortable shirt, put on his red jacket and then went to join the other kings for Lunch. Later on, in the day he had dinner with his father and sister and afterwards he was so tired he went straight to bed.

;;;;

When he came to, it was to the sensation of someone kissing him. He moved back a little and was immediately met with golden eyes and the smell of the forest. He didn’t think, just leaned right back in. He kissed him once, twice, then once more just because he could.

“Stop” Emrys whispered and Arthur immediately obeyed.

“Are you back?” he asked

“Back from where?” only then did Arthur notice that they were not in his room but outside. Hiding in the shadows, Arthur was pushed into one of the walls of the castle. Emrys was hovering close, looking worried.

“What are we doing here?” Arthur asked and noticed that he was holding a bouquet of roses. That was weird. If Emrys bought him roses, he would have remembered that. But why would he need to buy him roses? He could just create them.

“You were doused in Love portion. You were on your way to woo the Lady Vivian”

“Woo Lady Vivian?!” Arthur gagged “Really?”

“It’s a good thing you have me” Emrys said

“Wait, don’t tell me, True Love’s kiss?” Arthur asked. To his credit Emrys blushed.

Arthur bashfully smiled. “Can I have another kiss?”

“Absolutely not. Go back to your room. I will go and investigate your guests. We need to find out who’s using love spells on you and what their goal is” Emrys replied

“Let me go with you”

“No, Arthur it will be easier with just me. Please?”

Arthur sighed

“Fine. But you must tell me immediately when you find something”

“I will” Emrys said and kissed the Prince’s cheek

“And Emrys? You should keep these flowers” he said giving them to him. It was clear now that drugged Arthur was taking them to Vivian. But he might as well give them to the actual guy he loved

Emrys smiled and took them. Then his black cape magically converted into a cloak and he ran away from there. A few minutes later Arthur heard the hourly patrol. Stealthily, he went back to his room.

He kept the windows open that night but his visitor never came.

;;;;

“Keep an eye on King Alinad” Merlin told him the next day at breakfast

“Did Emrys tell you?” Arthur asked. How and where had Emrys found the time to tell Merlin when he hadn’t even come to meet Arthur?

“Morgana had her doubts and his jester was acting really fishy yesterday”

“Merlin, don’t get involved. Emrys is looking into it. I don’t want you to get hurt” Arthur told him. Merlin rolled his eyes but didn’t reply.

That day’s schedule was similar to the day before. Entertain the guests, Have Lunch and take part in the meeting. But their morning was free. Morgana had dealt with Lady Vivian the entire day yesterday so today she had pawned out that duty to Arthur.

Well, more or less.

For the most part, Arthur and a few of his knights just had to follow the ladies around as they shopped in the streets of Camelot. The ladies being Morgana, Vivian and Gwen. Sir Lancelot had immediately volunteered himself for the task. Arthur accepted without a second thought. Gwen was the main maid assigned to Lady Vivian. She deserved a few hours of love and attention from her boyfriend.

And Arthur could admit that Lancelot really was the most noble of all his knights. He was also quite handsome. So at the very least it would be extremely entertaining to see if Lady Vivian got jealous of Lancelot and Gwen.

And it was with this ulterior motive of keeping himself entertained, that he took Gwaine with him as well. Gwaine who was under strict order to not flirt with anyone for as long as the treaty was happening.

So Arthur spend his morning alternatively listening to Lady Vivian freak out about dresses and listening to Gwaine telling him about how much he loved and appreciated Merlin and how he was the only friend he had.

And because he was so bored that particular morning, he told Gwaine “You’re not his best friend. Lancelot is” which led to a verbal fight which lead to a promise of a proper fight later on the training field. It was the best thing that had happened to Arthur all morning.

;;;;;

Next thing he knew he was back in his own room, on his bed with Emrys holding him down.

“Did you tie my hands?” he asked just mildly surprised

“Oh good, you’re back”

“Again?” Arthur asked incredulously. He tried to reach up to kiss Emrys again but the sorcerer was already moving off of him. He quickly untied Arthur’s hands and then moved off of the bed altogether.

“So what happened this time?” Arthur asked

“Love portion. In your wine this time. This has to be the work of King Alinad” Emrys answered

“Why would Alinad want me to fall in love with Vivian? She’s not even his daughter”

“But she is King Olaf’s daughter. The same King Olaf who would have your head if anything happened to his precious daughter”

“Right and that would endanger the treaty. Camelot will fight King Olaf and Alinad will roam away free. A good plan, even if he is using the worst possible magic for it”

He got up moved to where Emrys was. Then slowly put his arms around him, pulling him close.

“So what did I do this time? Are you angry with me?”

“I’m not angry Arthur. It was quite funny actually. You were flirting with Vivian. Badly. Said something about ‘Destiny and Chicken’ if I remember right”

Arthur groaned and held Emrys tighter

“You were there?”

“No, I wasn’t. Uhh… Merlin told me. When he came to fetch me. He was the one who pulled you out before you could make a public fool of yourself. The King has you grounded until dinner” Emrys said

“Till Dinner, huh? Well, whatever shall we do with so much time on your hands?”

Emrys chuckled “What do you want to do?”

“hmm…Does the Great and Mighty Emrys know how to play chess?”

;;;;;

Chess with Emrys turned into a childish game of throwing the pieces at each other. That somehow evolved into Emrys using his magic to throw random objects towards Arthur while he used the sheathed Excalibur to fight off said objects.

The whole room was filled with noise. There were the random objects, the sword hitting various things and of course the carefree laughter of both Emrys and Arthur. The childishness lasted for quite a while until eventually Emrys gave up fighting and just continued laughing.

“I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun” Arthur said

“Me neither” Emrys replied, his laughter finally fading out.

Arthur placed his sword on the table and sighed

“I have to get ready for dinner”

Emrys stood up from the chair that he was sitting on “Let me help you with that”

With a quick snap of his finger, the room was rearranged back to its original state. There was no sign of the chaos that they had caused there. Emrys moved over to his wardrobe and started pulling out clothes for the evening. He pulled out a black tunic and a blue jacket

“Your trousers are fine right? Or do you want to change them too?” he asked

“No. They are fine”

Arthur didn’t complain as Emrys dressed him with expert fingers.

“You’ve done this before?” he asked

“I dress myself every morning, my Lord. I know how clothes work. It’s not that complicated”

Arthur just smiled.

“I think I should wear the red jacket instead”

“No. Wear this one. You never wear this one even though it makes you look so good”

“You think I look good? In blue?” Arthur asked and in return just got a raised eyebrow. Emrys was maybe blushing just a bit and to Arthur that was confirmation enough. Emrys thought he looked good. In Blue.

“Okay now listen to me” Emrys said as he fuzzed over Arthur’s collar “If Merlin tells you not to eat or drink something, then don’t take it. I won’t come by tonight. Keep your windows closed and keep extra wood in your room or else the fire will run out before morning”

“You won’t come by tonight?”

“I will come by tomorrow night”

Arthur pouted so Emrys kissed him.

“Okay?” he cheekily asked causing Arthur to smile

“Okay”

“Now go. I don’t want you to get scolded for being late to dinner”

Arthur kissed his cheek, winked at him and then went out. Emrys merely laughed.

;;;;;

Merlin entered the dinner feast later than Arthur. That meant that Arthur had to wait for the food to be served to him. The Prince was not allowed to drink any form of Alcohol at all that night. Even when he asked Merlin with a ‘please’ he was refused.

Arthur would normally throw Merlin into the stocks for this but he had risked the King’s ire for him that day. So, he figured that Merlin deserved a break.

“Merlin, make sure my room has extra wood tonight.”

Merlin nodded

“And whatever food is being served, take some back for you and Giaus. If anyone asks just tell them that I gave you permission”

;;;;;

The first thing Arthur noticed was the unmistakable presence of Emrys. But the very next thing his brain registered was noise. The cheering of people and sounds of trumpet. The third thing that his brain registered was pain.

“Ow” his hands went to his ribs. Emrys was right there with him, gently leading him asking him to sit down. Arthur sat on a chair and Emrys kneeled next to him.

“Just a minute” With both hands placed securely on his chest Emrys incanted something. The pain left his body and all he could feel was some residual warmth.

With the pain no longer clouding his brain, he was finally able to look around and figure out where he was. A Tent, clearly.

“Am I in a competition?” he asked. Because tents like this were usually only constructed for tournaments

“You’re fighting King Olaf to the death” Emrys said still inspecting Arthur’s body for more injuries

“I’m what?!”

“I’m sorry Arthur. I thought it was a portion but it turned out to be a poultice this time. By the time I was able to find the source and fight off the jester, this stupid fight was already happenings” Emrys tried to quickly explain.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. I’m alright Emrys.” He put his hands on Emrys’ cheeks and forced him to look into his eyes. “See, perfectly Alright”

“But the fight?”

“I’ll take care of the fight. You need to leave from here. It’s not safe here”

“But I-“

“Trust me, okay. Just trust me. I’ll be alright”

Emrys hesitantly agreed and slipped out of the tent. Arthur went to the tournament with a much clearer head. He won the fight and let King Olaf walk free. There was no need to shed blood uselessly.

After the fight the Lady Vivian had tried to kiss him. Later when Gwen was helping him out of his armour, she informed him that someone had also used a love portion on Lady Vivian.

“Let’s just hope she can find her own true Love’s kiss” Arthur had joked.

“Hey so what exactly happened? The last thing I remembered was falling asleep” Arthur said

Gwen immediately became nervous “I don’t think I should”

“Guinevere, just tell me the truth. I promise you I won’t get angry”

She bowed

“Very well. You were caught making out with her in her bedroom in the middle of the night”

“Making out?” he asked incredulously

“You were shirtless. She was in her nightdress”

Arthur groaned

“Well who found us?” Arthur asked

“Well, Me and Merlin did. We tried to take you away quietly but we couldn’t even move you from the bed before King Olaf and King Uther walked in”

“And then?”

“King Olaf threw the gauntlet and well, this happened” she said gesturing to the tent but clearly referring to the tournament.

“Oh God” Arthur mumbled “Emrys probably hates me”

;;;;

That night Arthur didn’t fall asleep. He didn’t want to miss Emrys’ arrival. If he arrived at all. He didn’t want to wake up the next morning and wonder if Emrys had come to meet him at all. He would be angry. He should be angry. But Arthur would explain himself and maybe, maybe Emrys will let him have a second chance.

“Why are you pacing?” was the first thing Emrys asked when he entered through the window. And just like every night, the first thing he did was make the fire a little brighter.

“I was waiting for you. I wasn’t sure you would come” Arthur said in a soft, possibly meek voice.

Emrys came close to him and just like what Arthur did before, this time Emrys put his hands on the Prince’s cheeks and forced him to look at him.

“What’s troubling you?”

“I’m so Sorry, Emrys. You should know that I will never, ever cheat on you on purpose. I was under a spell and I have no idea of what I did. But I would never. Because I Love you. You know I love you right?”

Emrys smiled

“Of course I do. Even if you don’t say it very often. This is the first time you’ve actually said that you love me. Usually you just look at me all besotted and give me a smitten smile” Emrys teased

Arthur blushed “That’s beside the point. Don’t tease me. We’re having a serious conversation”

“Well if we are having a serious conversation, then I would like to inform you that I was aware that you were under a love spell. I know you would never cheat on me. Not really, definitely not on purpose. I don’t hold your actions against you and I forgive you for anything you did under the influence of the spell”

Arthur looked at him in awe

“You’re amazing” he said in a low voice “I can’t believe you. If I was in your position, I would probably never extend such curtesy”

“That is what you say Arthur but I know hoe Noble you are. I know how big your heart is”

“I love you” Arthur smiled

“Ah ha! There’s the smitten smile that I love!”

;;;;

The next day Arthur was informed by Merlin, that King Alinad’s jester had escaped.

“I think Emrys helped him. Apparently, him and other magic users are treated like slaves there” Merlin said “Mistreated, abused…it was very sad”

Arthur could not hate the guy. Sorcerers didn’t deserve death just because they were born with magic. And they definitely didn’t deserve abuse either.

“Maybe one day he will be able to live a better life” Arthur said

“Perhaps when you are king and have united all five kingdoms of Albion” Merlin had smiled.

Arthur’s belief weren’t as strong as those of Merlin or Emrys. But more and more, he was starting to feel hopeful about the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Love this chapter! One of the best I've written.
> 
> Did anyone else also hate King Alinad? Like at the end of the episode he took his jester in chains and made him run with the horses! I hated him so much just in those few moments.
> 
> Next update will be on Monday


	11. The Dragonlords

“I need your help”

It was rare that he met Emrys in the day. Any time he met him when the sun was still out, it meant that there was trouble. Arthur was immediately on edge even though he knew that there was no danger in his immediate surroundings.

"What is it? Is this about magic?" Arthur asked

"It's a little more complicated than that" Emrys said.

"I'm listening. What do you need?"

"So you know how you have a dragon underneath the castle?"

"I have a what?"

"Oh you didn't know"

"Emrys what? Seriously dragon? In the castle?"

"Underneath the castle" Emrys corrected.

"Okay, okay, what about it?" Arthur asked. He knew that there were things that his father or his council had kept secret. But a dragon? A real dragon? This definitely took the crown

"It's a slightly long story. I've known the dragon since I came to Camelot. And he has helped me through a lot. He helped me protect you on various occasion. He was the one who helped with Excalibur and Morgana's bracelet. And umm...in return for his help, I promised that I would set him free." Emrys explained

"Free him from what? Is he imprisoned?"

"He is chained up. But you can free him. Excalibur can break the bonds that hold him here" Emrys said

"You want me to free him using Excalibur. I can do that" his hand went to his sword. There weren't many chances to use Excalibur. He was happy he could show off a little.

"That's great. But that's not the only thing" Emrys said a little nervous.

"Uther almost killed his kind. He is filled with grief. And that grief has had enough time to become rage. I fear that if he is freed then he will attack Camelot" he explained

"Okay. So what do we?" Arthur asked

"We have to find Balinor"

"Balinor?" Arthur asked

"Giaus said that Balinor was one of the dragon lords that escaped. Dragon lords can control dragons. If we can get him to order Kilgarrah to not attack Camelot then he will be compelled to not attack Camelot"

Arthur sighed "Good plan Emrys but there is a huge flaw here. The dragon lords would have also had enough time to have their grief turn into rage. If this Balinor wants revenge we would be practically handing him the biggest weapon ever"

"That's why you're coming with me Arthur" Emrys smiled " I trust you. I think of you as my future king. Let me take you to Balinor and prove to him that the future is different. That you are different. And then he would be willing to help us"

"You're putting a lot of faith in a guy we've never met before"

"My faith is not on Balinor. My faith is on us. Both of us. Together? We can make this happen"

Arthur stared at him. No matter how many displays of loyalty he saw, no matter who they were from, he would never get used to them. And this was just one of those times. If Emrys was doing it, then he too would put his trust in the both of them.

"Okay then. I'll get Merlin to prepare us horses. You know where to go right?"

"The entire thing shouldn't take more than 3 days. You can tell your father that you're going hunting. But you can't bring Merlin"

"I don't bring him anywhere. He just follows me around"

"This time he won’t"

Arthur chuckled “You can't stop Merlin. He's too stubborn. Even for you"

"I can. Meet me at the edge of the forest in 2 hours’ time"

;;;;;

When he did eventually meet Emrys, he was surprised that Merlin hadn't followed him. In fact he hadn't seen him since breakfast. He had gone to the physician’s room but it was locked, meaning both Giaus and Merlin must have been out.

"What did you do?" he asked the sorcerer

"I gave him a sleeping draught. The one that puts you in a coma sleep for 3 days. Everyone will assume he has gone with you anyway" Emrys coolly answered

"I still don't see why he couldn't just come with us. You guys get along"

"We do. This isn't about that Arthur. This is an important quest and I can't have anything go wrong"

Arthur looked at him suspiciously. Then smirked when it finally clicked.

"You know Emrys, most people's idea of a date is a picnic in the woods. Not a three-day quest"

Emrys blushed and sputtered " That's not it. It really is a quest"

"Oh, I'm not complaining. Three days in the woods with my secret lover? No complaints here"

Emrys sighed but didn't say anything further.

;;;;

They spend a good portion of the day travelling. Then by afternoon decided to stop by and rest the horses. They were near a stream so that's where they stopped. The horses were loosely tied, allowing them to graze while Arthur and Emrys sat near the shore of the stream.

"Can I tell you something weird" Arthur said

"You can tell me anything" Emrys answered like the lovesick fool that he was. Arthur couldn't help but smile (his smitten smile).

"You and Merlin are a lot alike"

"Me and Merlin?" Emrys sputtered then almost choked on a cough "How?"

"Well, it's just, both of you feel things very deeply, you know. Like you love deeply, you're very, very loyal and both of you have such kind hearts. Don't tell Merlin this, but he is my best friend. My best friend, my lover, my sister, I'm just surrounded by people who feel very deep and care very deep."

"I see you guys and I feel so lucky. So lucky to have you people who care so, so much about my kingdom and my citizens. I feel like I can be a better ruler with all of you by my side" Arthur explained

Arthur picked up a rock and chucked it into the stream. When he looked over to Emrys, he found him staring back with a stunned expression on his face.

"I don't know what to say"

Arthur laughed. But it quickly turned sad

"Sometimes I feel, if I was just a little stronger, if I was just a little more like my father, then I would have no problem taking the throne from him."

"Arthur no! You are not your father and your reign as king will not start with your father's blood on your hands. I hate Uther but I would never want you to bear the burden of murder"

"But it would make things so easy" Arthur whispered. His eyes were watering. A little more and he would burst into tears.

"No Arthur it would only make things more difficult. The people, your council, will never fully accept a king like that. They will think of you as nothing more than a power-hungry prat and that's not who you are. Uther will die but you will not kill him and neither will magic." Emrys said

"If I want the people to be able to re-accept magic then I cannot allow Uther's death to be caused from magic. I am the protector of magic and I will not allow people to continue thinking of it as something inherently evil" he continued

"Then how Emrys? Sometimes I think if I could just become king now, then I could start making things right"

"You will be a great king Arthur. But it will be in its own time. You and me? we're just mortals. We shouldn't bother with things like fate and destiny. All we need to do is our duty. Whatever happens to Uther will happen in its own time, in its own way. We shouldn't worry about it. And till then? Till then we'll just have to work from the shadows"

Arthur sniffed

"You are very wise Emrys. Very, very wise"

"Come on then. We should make camp for the night. Get some food, get some sleep. Tomorrow is really important."

"Emrys" Arthur smirked "thank you for the date"

"The quest isn't over yet, my lord"

;;;;

The next day they continued on with their trek. By Mid-day, they had reached their destination only to find the place empty.

“Are you sure he’s supposed to be here?” Arthur asked. The cave system that they had come across was pretty empty. Maybe someone lived here at some point but it was hard to tell

“According to Giaus, yes.” Emrys answered

Arthur noticed the perplexed look on Emrys face. Arthur knew how important a noble man’s word was. And for Emrys to make a promise and not be able to keep it? It must be terrible.

“Should we look around?” he offered but before Emrys could answer a new voice interrupted them.

“Who are you people and what are you doing here?”

Both of them turned around to meet an older looking man.

“Are you Balinor?” Arthur asked

“What’s it to you?”

“Please. I’m Emrys, I’m a sorcerer. I need the help of a dragon lord. So if you’re Balinor, please hear me out” he immediately said

The man gave them a look over

“I am Balinor. But if you want me to trust you, you’re going to have to remove your mask” he said.

Arthur and Emrys paused. Arthur looked from him to Balinor, then back to him.

“I’ll go wait near the horses. If you need me just shout” he said. Emrys nodded and let them go.

As promised Arthur stayed near the horses as Balinor took Emrys inside the caves which were presumably his home.

;;;;;

Merlin removed his mask as soon as he was sure that Arthur was far away.

“Now tell me the truth. Who are you and why are you travelling with a knight of Camelot?” Balinor asked

“I’m Emrys like I told you. But my birth name is Merlin. That Camelot knight is Arthur Pendragon, crown prince of Camelot. And like I told you I need your help”

Balinor scoffed

“You’re a fool if you think I’m going to help Uther’s son”

“It’s not Uther’s son you will be helping. Or me or Camelot. The one who needs your help is Kilgarrah. I promised Kilgarrah that I will free him from Camelot. I need you to order him to not attack the city after he is freed” Merlin explained.

“I cannot unbind magically bonded chains. And I refuse to order Kilgarrah to not attack Camelot. The city and it’s king can burn”

“Balinor, please, I know you’re not this cold-hearted. Not really. Giaus has told me about you, he told me how noble you are and how much you valued the dragons. Please Balinor, help me free Kilgarrah and when Arthur is king you and he can both come back to Camelot”

Balinor seemed to pause ant Gaius’ name. But he was keeping a carefully neutral expression. He probably didn’t know if he should trust Merlin or not.

“I made the mistake of trusting Uther. I won’t do the same with his son. I will go with you and will order Kilgarrah to not attack Camelot but in return, I want free passage to go where ever I want”

“I can do that. Arthur will agree. We’ll get you out of Camelot easily and you can go live anywhere you want. Even of you want to stay in Camelot you won’t be harmed” Merlin said

“Go tell that to your Prince. Tell him I want his word on it”

Merlin nodded then put his mask back on.

“Umm…when we come back, just don’t reveal my identity. I promised Giaus that I wouldn’t reveal myself until Arthur was king” saying so he went out to explain everything to the Prince. A little while later both Emrys and Prince Arthur came back to the caves.

“I give you my word Balinor, where ever you want to go, you will live like a free man”

By this time, Balinor had started a little fire and was cutting some vegetables to make food.

“We should eat before we make our way back” he offered.

Emrys immediately took up the offer. He bought out some bread that they had packed and a little fruit that he had picked up on the way.

“We don’t have any meat” He sheepishly explained

“Won’t be necessary. I have enough vegetables for soup” Balinor said

Once everything was put in the pot, the three of them just sat around waiting for the food to cook.

“Balinor, I just wanted to say that I know that my father did a lot of bad things in his life. I intend to, when the time comes, I intend to make things right. With the magical community, the druids and everyone else involved. That would include you and any other dragon lords who are in hiding. I once more give you my word as crown Prince of Camelot”

Balinor looked at him but made sure his face remained neutral

“I’ll believe it when I see it” he said after a while

“So where will you go, once you become a free man” Emrys interjected, probably because he could sense the tension in the room…uhh cave.

“Ealdor” Balinor said but kept his gaze firmly locked with the Prince. Like he was openly challenging him to stop him. “I once had someone there. A wonderful woman named Hunith. I once dreamed of settling down with her but that was before Uther happened”

Arthur looked away. Shame and pain was now openly visible on his face.

“Hunith?” Emrys asked

“Not a very common name, I know” Balinor said

“No, I mean Hunith from Ealdor. I’m…I’m her son”

Balinor looked at him in shock. But then his face completely crumbled

“I see. So she must have gotten married”

“My mother never married”

The revelation shocked everybody. Arthur who till now knew nothing about Emrys’ family had suddenly gotten a glimpse into his personal life. Balinor looked like he had just found a reason to live. And Emrys, he looked like he was going to cry.

Lunch that day was a silent affair. All three of them too busy in their own heads to bother with each other.

;;;;

On their way back Arthur got a chance to talk to Emrys

“I always thought you grew up in Camelot” he said

“That’s impossible. Even if I was born here, it would have been too difficult to stay. What with the laws and everything”

“So why did you come here?” he asked

“Mum thought that Giaus could help me. Me? I just wanted to find myself, explore myself and my magic. See if I could become someone. If I could make something of myself” Emrys replied

“And have you?”

Emrys smiled at the prince “I think I might have.”

For the rest of the journey, Arthur was left relatively alone as Emrys and Balinor kept whispering to each other probably catching up on all sorts of things. Arthur felt like he was intruding. And yet at the same time he also wanted to join in the conversation and learn all that he could about Emrys.

But he decided that for now, he would just leave them alone.

;;;;

Sneaking into Camelot’s castle was surprisingly easy.

“I should have the guards fired” Arthur whispered even though he wasn’t really angry

“Don’t do that. It took me months to learn their patrol patterns” Emrys replied

Balinor for his part just rolled his eyes. He was very good at being silent. If he wasn’t so big and fierce looking, he would have made for a very good spy, in Arthur’s royal opinion. Quickly and silently, they reached Kilgarrah’s cave.

“Ah, young Warlock, you bought me visitors” the dragon said in the form of a greeting

“Kilgarrah, how are you, old friend?”

“Are me eyes deceiving me or is it really Balinor?”

Balinor smiled “Your eyesight is perfectly fine”

Arthur was gaping. He had never seen a dragon in his life and for all that he had read about them, he had never known that they could be so big! Kilgarrah definitely looked dangerous. He didn’t know how to read faces but this dragon definitely seemed angry to him.

“Balinor helping the little Prince? Will wonders ever cease?” Kilgarrah said

“I bought them here to keep my promise to you”

Kilgarrah raised his neck to the sky and screamed. At least it sounded like a scream to Arthur. Emrys and Balinor were both unfazed. So for all he knew, the dragon could be laughing.

“Finally! I have waited so long for this day to come!”

“But before that my friend, I believe you know what I’m going to do” Balinor said

Kilgarrah looked at him, then looked closer at Emrys “Very clever young Warlock” then he turned back to Balinor “Very well then, I have no complaints. What is a few human lives when the other option is my freedom?”

Balinor nodded and then started speaking in dragon tongue. Emrys and Arthur who had both never heard it were awe struck. Balinor’s eyes glowed a faint gold and then he was done.

“You can release him now” he told them

“Give me your sword” Emrys said.

With Excalibur in his hands, he made his way down to where he could clearly see the chains. It only took one blow to smash it into pieces. And as soon as he was free Kilgarrah gave a loud yell and took off from the cave.

Emrys made his way back to the others.

“That’s one thing done. Now we just need to make sure to get Balinor to safety in Ealdor”

Emrys hid Balinor in Giaus’ chamber which lead to them catching up about a lot of things. Arthur went to the library and got an official letter claiming Balinor to be a free man. He quickly signed it under his name and carefully hid it in his jacket. Emrys went to prepare a horse and get some food for Balinor.

They all met again a couple hours later just as the sun had set. Balinor was all ready for his journey, his official papers in his hands.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright? There’s a lot of bandits in the woods” Emrys said

Balinor just smiled

“You forget that I’m a dragon lord. I’m a hardened warrior with a little bit of magic to my disposal. I’ll be just fine” he mounted his horse

“Can I write to you son?” he asked

“Of course” Emrys smiled “Father”

Balinor took off. And soon enough so did Emrys. Arthur went back to his own room, feeling a nice sense on calmness in his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Balinor is amazing!  
> Next update will be on Thursday


	12. The Beginnings of Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this in the last chapter. Arthur does not know Hunith. Nor does he know that Hunith is Merlin's mother. Because in this story, Merlin would have never needed Arthur's help. He could have just donned the identity of Emrys and taken care of it.

Morgana had gotten permission to leave. She was giddy with happiness. Arthur had also convinced the king to let him and his knights go along to help Morgana in her new castle for a bit. With the added knowledge that Arthur would be there with her, Uther was easily swayed.

Morgana’s old castle had a strong structure. While it was in no way as grand as the one in Camelot, it still was in every other way, a royal castle. Morgana had vague but fond memories of the castle. She could easily identify her own room but got confused about her parent’s old rooms.

Arthur had decided to take his common bred knights with him for this quest. At this point, they were all accepted by the other knights. So really, he could just call them knights. But in his head, he sometimes still referred to them as _his common-bred knights._

Arthur had already talked to them about this. Or more like Gwaine had and Arthur had been listening. Gwaine had on one summer day dragged them all to the local tavern to indulge. There, after a few drinks and some fun and games, the topic of magic had come up.

Sir Lancelot, never one to stray away from the noble path had immediately accepted that he had no hatred towards magic.

“Magic saved my life. A sorcerer helped me when no one else would. They brought me here, gave direction to my life. I could never hate magic” Arthur and Lancelot were perhaps that only ones who knew that Lancelot was talking about Emrys.

Hearing that, Gwaine had immediately perked up. Telling them about how magic was amazing and soft and just beautiful. Arthur was jealous but only because he could not boast about his lover’s magic as easily as Gwaine was doing.

“Someone very close to me is a sorcerer. He’s my dear friend. If I had to go decide between him and the crown, I would have a hard time choosing”

Gwaine talked a lot but very rarely did he talk openly about himself. Arthur supposed that he had that common with Merlin. Arthur was also very curious about this sorcerer friend of his. But later on Merlin had said that he was probably just talking about Emrys. Which sucked even more because now both Lancelot and Gwaine could openly praise Emrys and his magic while Arthur couldn’t.

Hearing Sir Gwaine and Sir Lancelot openly support magic in a public place also gave some of the locals some confidence. Soon enough random people were assembled near their table taking about magic. There were some old people telling tales about how life was back when magic was still in abundance. There were a few travellers who regaled them with stories of magic that existed in the forests and away from Camelot’s borders. Old tales and legends and local stories were being shared and discussed openly.

Arthur was listening. But it felt like he had been transported into a new world. A different Camelot that he had never seen before. That he never even knew existed before. His people liked magic, his people wanted magic.

His thoughts were interrupted by a very drunk Elyan who got everyone’s attention by throwing a jug of mead on the floor. The resulting noise caused everyone to stop and look.

“I am loyal to Prince Arthur of Camelot” Elyan declared to the tavern “But I hate the rules regarding magic!” he drunkenly cried.

“If everyone was treated like a proper citizen then my father would be alive! If the king didn’t hate his people, then my father would have been alive! I wish he didn’t hate magic. I wish he wasn’t so blinded…” whatever else he was going to say was muffled when Gwaine hugged him. Elyan cried a bit more but eventually settled down.

That was apparently everyone’s queue to leave the knights alone. They had once again settled down on their table, just the lot of them. People were starting to cautiously back off from their table now as if they had all just simultaneously realised that they had committed treason.

But Arthur wasn’t yet satisfied

“What about you, Sir Percival? Sir Leon? What do you think about magic? I wish to know as future king. Please feel free to talk with the promise that you will not be punished for whatever you say” Arthur reassured

“My mother had magic” Percival said quietly

“So does that mean…” Gwaine left the question hanging

Percival shook his head “Magic doesn’t necessarily work like that. You don’t just inherit it. You could come from a family of sorcerers and have no magic and you could be from a normal family but be born with magic”

“What happened?” Arthur asked “To your family, I mean”

“I lost them in a fire. Till today I don’t know if the fire was an accident or intentional” Sir Percival shrugged

It was silent for a while after that. No one knew how to comfort Sir Percival, if he needed comfort at all. Slowly and cautiously Sir Leon decided to open up. After hearing them all speak, Leon had started feeling a bit confident to talk. He did so quietly, like he was telling them a secret.

Thinking back at it now, Arthur realised that that must have been the first time in his life that Sir Leon was able to talk about it with anybody.

“I knew a boy with magic. I was a child, he was quite a few years older than me. He was a farmer, a poor child but he treated me like a brother. I loved him, I looked up to him. He had magic, which he used to help the plants grow. But for some reason he could never grow flowers” Leon said wistfully. By now, he was completely lost in his memories.

“I remember the day he grew his first flower. He was so happy, he had started dancing. He was jumping and yelling and he ran all the way from his house to mine to show me the flower he had created.”

Sir Leon had tears in his eyes. He closed them and the tears fell down

“The next day, he and his entire family….in the town square…” he sobbed

He didn’t have to finish the sentence for everyone to know exactly what had happened. After all, they had all seen enough executions.

“I think it was my fault.” Sir Leon said “I think it was my parents”

His parents, his family. The nobilities who had sworn loyalty to Uther.

“You were a child. It wasn’t your fault. You don’t need to feel guilty” Percival said as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It took me a long time to get over the guilt of my family’s death. Trust me when I say, sometimes the only one you need to forgive is yourself”

“Why did you join the knights?” Arthur asked.

Why would anyone decide to serve a king they hated? If anything, Leon should have become like Gwaine. Someone who for a long time hated all nobility. Even now he knew that while Gwaine was loyal to him, he was more loyal to his own principles. And he admired that about him.

“For the longest time I thought I had no choice. As the oldest son, it was me who would join the knights” Sir Leon chuckled. But it was a sad, forced noise.

“But then I thought that being a knight was a good thing. That as someone with power, I could help people. I could use my honour, my position, my nobility, to help those who were in lower positions. I thought if there was ever a time when it was a Nobles’ word versus a farmer boy then I would be able to help the farmer boy by being in the position that I was”

“Elyan, I know you don’t want to hear it from me, but I’m sorry. I failed in the one thing I wanted to do as a knight and I’m sorry I couldn’t do much when it was your father that needed help” Sir Leon said sincerely.

That little visit had given Arthur a lot to think about. Along with a brand new perspective that he didn’t know he needed, he had come out of that experience with new found appreciation for his knights and his people.

So when it came to getting Morgana to her new castle, he knew exactly who he could trust. And who he was going to bring along.

Unfortunately both he and Morgana hadn’t realised that they would need more servants in the new castle.

“I don’t know what I was hoping. I had forgotten it was abandoned” Morgana said once the grand tour was done.

They had only bought Merlin and Gwen with them. And with the amount of work the castle needed, they would definitely need to hire more people and soon.

“Don’t worry about the servants. Emrys said he will arrange for them in a day or two” Merlin told Morgana

“And since when did he tell you?” Arthur interjected.

“Do you know how many servants Camelot employs Arthur? Around 200. Do you know how many you need if we just use magic? 20. And that’s stretching it” Merlin said

“I can’t believe an entire castle can be managed with just 20 people” Gwen said

“I read about it in Giaus’ book. There’s an entire spell book of household spells. Mending clothes, doing the dishes, laundry, almost everything that we do can be done so much easier with magic” he told her.

“Perhaps you should learn some. Maybe then I’ll actually have clean chambers and proper clothes” Arthur teased

Everyone had their work cut out for the next few days. They were all going to band together to make the castle a liveable place. Clean whatever needs to be cleaned, mend whatever needs to be mended, buy whatever needs to be bought. And wait for Emrys.

;;;;;

Merlin had stayed awake even after everyone else had fallen asleep. He was bone tired. Cleaning, cooking, mending was a lot of work. Even though everyone was doing it (including Arthur) it was still tiring. Everyone else must have also been extremely tired because they all fell asleep rather quickly.

Which gave him the perfect opportunity to sneak away. He had something to go. Merlin carefully tiptoed out of the castle

“Going somewhere?” he gasped and turned around but calmed down considerably when he saw Lancelot.

“I was going to put up magical barriers around the castle” he said

“Let me come with you, then”

“Lancelot you must be tired. Even I am tired. I can do this on my own. You should go back to sleep”

But Lancelot didn’t. Instead he stepped closer.

“If you don’t need my help, then I hope you won’t mind my company” he smiled

After a moment, Merlin laughed

“Come on then, let’s get this done”

Finishing up the spell was fairly easy. He casted the spell and put it into the earth. All around the castle, the floor shone. Then after a moment, it was all gone. Like nothing had ever happened there at all.

“We do have one problem though” Lancelot calmly said from where he was casually leaning against a tree. “How is Emrys going to appear when you’re here?” he asked

“We’ll have to do something” Merlin said

“Hey, why haven’t you told Arthur?” Lancelot asked

“I promised Giaus” Merlin answered

“Didn’t stop you from telling me”

“I believe our circumstances were different, Sir Lancelot”

That made him chuckle

“Still, you told Gwaine. For no other reason than just because you wanted him to know”

“Gwaine was…different. I know he would accept me. I knew it wouldn’t change a damn thing”

“Are you scared Arthur wouldn’t accept you?” Lancelot asked

Merlin sighed

“I know he would. He already accepted me in his own way. But…it’s just…this fear doesn’t leave me”

Lancelot hummed

“Just so you know, if Arthur is not able to accept you, then you should know Me and Gwaine will be ready to leave with you”

Merlin laughed

“You’d leave Gwen behind?” he teased

“Not at all. Gwen will come with. She loves you a lot. Sometimes I think she loves you more than she loves Elyan”

That was the thing about Lancelot. His confidence always helped ground Merlin. He always felt loved and accepted around everyone. Arthur, Gwen, Morgana, the knights, everyone. But with Lancelot, he felt seen. Seen and understood and that to him was very important.

“Thank You Lancelot. You’re a true friend. I appreciate your loyalty. You and Gwaine and everyone else as well” Merlin said sincerely

“Now that we have sorted your potential treason, I think I have an idea about Emrys” Lancelot declared

;;;;

“Emrys came yesterday?” Arthur incredulously asked “And you just didn’t wake any of us?”

“Well, Merlin and I were awake and he was there so he just talked to us” Lancelot lied like he was born to do it.

Arthur turned his slightly angry, slightly bewildered face towards Merlin

“Don’t look at me. You were tired as hell. We both know how you get when you don’t get enough sleep” Merlin said

“Merlin, while I agree with you, next time you should wake one of us up. It would just make things easier” Morgana said. Merlin just slightly bowed.

“Yes, My lady” he said

“Well, we can’t change what happened. So tell us Sir Lancelot. What was Emrys’ plan?” Morgana asked.

;;;;

Emrys plan involved bringing in more magical people. But he had assured them that these people were the ones he personally knows and trusts.

The servants in the new castle would be the sorcerers who were living in hiding in or near Camelot. The court physician would be a woman named Alice who was extremely skilled in the arts of Magical healing. Gwen would serve as head of castle as she was now going to live and work here with Morgana. And Balinor would be the protector of the castle.

The plan was that Elyan and Percival would go to the neighbouring kingdom to get Alice. Giaus was already leading the servants to the new castle. Gwaine and Sir Leon would accompany Morgana to the nearest Druid camp. They would there establish a schedule that would let Morgana learn her magic as well as manage her castle.

“Arthur needs to make his way to Balinor. Emrys said he’ll join you halfway, if he isn’t already there. Merlin and I are going to go to the lake of Avalon and talk to Freya” Lancelot said

“Who is Freya?” Arthur asked

“She’s a goddess” Merlin answered. “of a different realm. Of Avalon. She can help us protect the castle and also create magical pathways in case we ever need to abandon the castle again”

“And Emrys said you two should do it?” Arthur asked again

“Well, Sir Lancelot is very noble and I’m….charming?” Merlin smiled

“Is everyone else okay with this plan?” Arthur asked to everyone who was there in the room. He was met with no objections.

“Okay then. Let’s have breakfast and then disperse”

;;;;;

Arthur was just a little away from the castle when Emrys joined him.

“Nice of you to join me. I thought I would end up meeting you directly in Ealdor”

Emrys smiled. He was clearly finding Arthur’s childishness amusing.

Really, Arthur had a whole rant prepared. Entire streams of argument about how Emrys should trust him more. He knew that there were probably things that Emrys still hadn’t told him, his real identity included. But that didn’t mean he could exclude him from decision making and really…really…all it came down to was his childish jealousy that instead of waking him up and talking to him, Emrys had just told Lancelot everything and asked him to pass on the message.

“Of course I was going to join you. You do realise you’re going to meet my parents, right?” Emrys said

Arthur’s mind came to a screeching halt. He had known it, obviously. That Emrys was strong, protector of magic, apparent son of a dragon lord but when he put it like that then..

“Did you tell your parents about us?”

“Obviously I did. Did you not want me to?” Emrys asked

“No. Of Course I’m happy that you told them. But Emrys, you haven’t even told me your real name. Be honest, what do your parents really think of us?” he asked

“Okay first of all, Emrys is my real name. It is not the only name I have but it is technically my name. Also my mum loves you because I write about you a lot. They know the circumstances of our relationship and yeah, they would like it if you knew the entire truth but it’s not like they blame you. Or me. They don’t blame anybody. Balinor still hates Uther but that can’t be helped” Emrys said

“Okay” Arthur breathed out “Okay. That’s fine. Let’s just meet your parents”

;;;;;

Hunith was an amazing woman. She was beautiful but also was humble and from what he had heard about her, she was very courageous.

“She protected me while I was on the run. She risked her life for me when I was nothing but a stranger to her” Balinor told him.

He and Balinor were given the duty to hunt something for dinner. Because as soon as Hunith had seen the both of them, she had decided that they were staying for dinner. Emrys had picked up a few house chores and some guy named Will had come around to catch up.

‘Brilliant!’ thought Arthur. The three of them were probably gossiping while he was probably going to get some version of ‘Don’t hurt my son’ talk from Balinor. But for the most part Balinor was quiet. Opting to only talk when asked questions.

Arthur asked him about the village, about the purge and about his family. But for everything he merely received a few sentences.

“You would get along so well with Sir Gwaine” Arthur mumbled

“Ah Sir Gwaine! I have heard about him. Apparently he is a good friend to my son. Open and accepting of magic” Balinor said

“You know Balinor, if you disapprove of me and Emrys you should tell me straight to my face” Arthur said, a little irritated and possibly a little hurt.

“I do not disapprove of anything Arthur. I do not have that right. I trust my son and I trust that Hunith taught him well, even when I was unable to. He needs to live his own life and make his own mistakes. I trusted Uther and it didn’t turn out good for me. He believes with all his heart that you are different. I don’t trust you or any of you royals in Camelot. But that’s on me. I’m not going to come in your way”

Arthur nodded. He understood. Everyone in his kingdom probably suffered a case of mixed feelings. He knew he loved his father but he hated every single thing that he did. Morgana hated Uther but he was still the person who raised her. She had some affection for him at least. He knew his knights were loyal to him but he also knew that they disapproved of Uther’s rules and his ways.

It was the same with Balinor. And possibly it was the same with Hunith as well. They must hate the king, hate Camelot, but they loved their son. And they were trying, in their own way. That was enough. All of them just had to keep trying until they reached their goals.

;;;;

Convincing them to leave their life behind in Ealdor and come live in Morgana’s castle was probably the hardest conversation Arthur had to sit through. And he had only sat through half of it before he was kicked out. This was now a family matter and it was being discussed accordingly.

Unfortunately, he was left in the company of Will. Will was Emrys’ childhood friend. They had been together all the time when he was here. And for the longest time it was Will who kept his secret, who protected him from everyone else, from anyone who wanted to hurt him. And when he decided to move to Camelot, Will was almost going to go with him.

“Then why didn’t you?” Arthur asked

“I’ve been protecting him all my life. He wanted to learn to live by himself. Be his own person. And that would not be possible if he always had me. It was hard for me, letting him go. But I knew I had to.” Will smiled “And look at him now! All cool and fancy!”

Arthur smiled too

“Cool and fancy and powerful and mysterious. Couple of my knights are friends with him. They love him so much” Arthur said

“Who would have known that _Emrys_ would be popular with nobility?” Will teased

Arthur looked away, not wanting Will to see him blushing. Their relationship was the most open secret relationship ever. His sister knew, his best friend knew, his knights knew, Emrys’ family and his childhood friend knew. Possibly, possibly, even Giaus knew.

At this point Arthur was convinced that the only person who didn’t know was Uther.

And he would very much want to keep it that way.

“Would you come with us, if they agreed?” Arthur asked pointing back to the house “You could be a knight for Morgana”

Will sighed

“I like my life here. Simple and boring that it is, I still like it. But if Emrys needs me, I’ll come for him in a heartbeat!”

 _‘You and all of us too’_ Arthur thought

;;;;

Somehow, Emrys was able to convince Balinor and Hunith. So after spending the night on their floor, Arthur was all ready to leave in the morning. They left their house and whatever livestock that they had to Will.

Will took Emrys aside and they had a long whispered conversation. But by the time the sun was in the sky and the morning was clear enough to see, they were all ready and making their way to Morgana’s castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is coming along nicely. I hope you guys are enjoying it!  
> Next Update is on Monday :)


	13. The King

The sun was setting when Arthur and the others finally came back to Morgana’s castle. They were the last to arrive. Giaus had bought in the servants and they had already integrated into their work. Alice and Giaus had taken up their roles and Morgana was on a schedule for her learnings.

Balinor and Hunith had a place all set up and ready for them. As Emrys had explained, while he trusted everyone in the castle, there was no guarantee that bad things wouldn’t happen. Balinor was necessary for that. To keep tabs on the people of the castle, to keep tabs on who comes and goes.

It was a very important job.

When Balinor and Hunith were all settled in Emrys left the castle again. He said that he was going to go check up on the druids. Arthur gave him a quick hug and let him go. In a few more days he would also need to leave Morgana’s castle and make his way back to Camelot.

The only thing that was troubling him was the fact that Morgana didn’t have any knights. Sure she was very powerful and her castle was filled with magic users, it still didn’t feel completely safe to Arthur. He wanted to bring some knights to her. Maybe some sorcerers would like to become knights? Arthur wasn’t sure but he decided that he would bring it up with Morgana first. And if that went well then they could talk to Emrys about it.

The next two days were relatively peaceful. Nothing really happened. The castle was on a schedule. Arthur did some impromptu knight training, but most of his time was spent with his sister. Morgana was happier than ever. She was doing very well, learning very quick. She got along very well with the druids, easily adjusting herself with their ideas of Peace and non-violence.

She had learnt some basic spells from Alice but for the most part she was working in her seer ability. The ability to see the future. She was scared at first because almost everything she saw was bad. But the druids told her that no one future is set in stone. What she sees can be used as guidelines to do or not do something. The more she was learning, the easier it got for her to live with herself.

The third day however, was when things came to a halt. A messenger came from Camelot with a message for Prince Arthur. King Cendred had taken over Camelot.

“How? There was no war, we would have known” Arthur said but the messenger was injured, he had been hunted. Try as they might, Giaus and Alice were unable to save him. All he could really do was relay the message. Then as the fight left his body, he passed away painlessly.

“How do we find out what’s happening in Camelot?” Arthur asked

“Freya can help us” Lancelot immediately answered

He got a bowl of water and Alice dropped a stone inside.

“Here” Lancelot gave her a piece of paper “you have to incant this”

Alice nodded. She placed her hands on the edge of the bowl and finished the incantation. As soon as she was done, the face was a young beautiful girl was visible in the water.

“Lady Freya, we need your help” Lancelot said “We want to know what happened, what’s happening in Camelot”

Freya’s face disappeared and several other images appeared in the water.

There was King Cendred travelling with just one companion to Camelot. A woman with blond hair.

There was an image of her doing magic

That was followed with images of skeleton soldiers. An army of undead…or whatever it was that those things were.

An image of King Uther giving orders to the knights.

Various knights being slayed.

King Cendred pushing his sword inside Uther’s chest effectively taking the King’s life.

King Cendred sitting on the throne of Camelot, the blonde woman beside him as his queen, surrounded by a battalion of dead-undead knights.

The images faded and the water went back to normal

“All this happened? Or is this some vision of the future?” Arthur asked. But there was no more Freya in the water and Lancelot did not have answers for him

“This happened. All of this has already occurred” Morgana said looking pale as a sheet

“Are you sure?”

“Maybe they knew.” Giaus interrupted “Maybe somebody knew that you were away from the Capital. And Cendred must have thought that it was a good time to attack. It is clearly an attack orchrested with magic” he said

“Very powerful magic. I’m willing to bet that that lady is at least a high priestess” Alice supplied

“We have to retake Camelot from them. We need to protect its people” Arthur said

“We need to find out how she created that army. Once we remove that spell. Defeating them would be very easy” Balinor said

“How do we do that?” Sir Leon asked

“Freya, do you know how this happened?” Merlin asked leaning into the bowl so that he could properly see.

“The cup of Life” came the answer from the water. There were no images with it, just the voice.

“What is that? What is the cup of Life?” Sir Leon asked

“It’s a very old druid artifact. If you fill the cup with blood of people, all those people would become immortal. No mortal sword will be able to kill them. As long as there is the blood in the cup, they will remain standing but not alive. Standing but not dead. A state of undead. A rotten state of being” Alice answered

“It was in Camelot” Morgana said “the druids said that all their artifacts were taken by Uther”

“That’s why they didn’t need to bring an army with them” Arthur agreed

“Okay first, we need a plan of attack. Giaus, we need Emrys. If we’re fighting a practically undead army, then we need a strong sorcerer on our side. Do you think you can contact him?” Arthur asked

Giaus didn’t say anything for a moment. It seemed like he was lost in thought. Arthur could figure out why. Emrys had specifically told him that he was going to go talk with the druids. How would Giaus contact him? There wasn’t a magical way to summon somebody. And even if there was, he doubted either Giaus or Morgana could do it.

“I’m sure he will find out soon enough. If Freya knows, then probably the druids also know. I’m sure he’ll find out soon enough” Merlin answered instead.

Arthur had no choice but to accept his answer. So he nodded.

“Okay, we’ll move on our own. I’m sure Emrys will come join us when we need him to.” Arthur said. He always trusted Emrys. There was never a time when Arthur was in danger and Emrys hadn’t come to help him.

Now it was time to devise a plan.

Sneaking back into Camelot was easy. All his knights and Merlin knew the secret passageways into the capital. They were going to attack in the dead of the night and retake the castle. Mostly stealthily.

They were gathered, just outside the walls of the castle, all ready to retake the castle and the kingdom.

Arthur, the Knights, Morgana, Balinor and Merlin were all ready to take back the castle. Giaus, Alice, Gwen and Hunith had all stayed back in Morgana’s castle, with the servants keeping them in magical barriers.

“King Cendred is in the throne room, if I show up and challenge him it could buy us some time. I want you guys to take back the castle but I’m going to kill Cendered” Arthur said with conviction

“I would need all of you to round the castle, take down, capture, burn, whatever works. If they die, good, if not, get out. If you find any citizens help them get out. Take over any part of the castle that you can” he commanded the knights

“So trap them if you can’t kill them? Sounds fun” Gwaine said and the others smiled

“Morgana I’m going to need you to take down that sorcerer” Arthur said

“But Arthur, I…I can barely do magic properly I-“

“I’ll go with you” Merlin said

“With Morgana?” Arthur asked

“This is a very bad time to tell you both, but I do have magic” he confessed

Arthur and Morgana looked at him incredulously. Surprisingly it was Arthur who recovered first.

“I always knew there was a reason you were living with Giaus. You came here to learn magic, didn’t you?” Arthur grinned while Merlin just looked perplexed. Morgana was still confused but she decided that they could always talk about this later.

“Don’t worry you’re still my favourite servant” Arthur said then ruffled his hair

It successfully made Merlin smile

“I am your only servant” he countered.

They grinned at each other. Then Arthur turned to Balinor

“Can you use the dragon and create a distraction?” he asked

“It may not be necessary; I can create a fairly strong and controlled fire” he replied

“Impressive. Do it” Gwaine said with sparkling eyes.

In the dead of the night the central courtyard burned. The Undead army who came to fight the dragon lord, all lost their lives because while swords and men couldn’t kill the undead, powerful, ancient magical definitely could.

Arthur, Merlin and Morgana used this opportunity to make their way to the throne room. As he expected the king was there. But contrary to his expectations, the sorcerer wasn’t.

“Where’s the magic user?” The prince taunted

“Wouldn’t you want to know” King Cendred drew his sword

Morgana and Merlin left them there, to battle it out in the throne room. Surprisingly there were no undead soldiers guarding the room. So maybe Cendred had some integrity. Or perhaps it was the sorcerer who was controlling everything and the king was just a pawn in her schemes.

“Nothing will happen to Arthur, not as long as he has Excalibur” Merlin said as they made their way down the stairs instead. Using basic fire spells whenever they encountered an undead. They were both able to very easily burn the undead. And it was easier than trying to fight them. Morgana couldn’t kill them with her sword, but the fire seemed to work without problem.

“I don’t know what that is, but I trust you” Morgana replied.

They made their way downstairs to see the knights trying to trap a handful of undead in a locker. Just as Percival and Leon finished pushing the door closed, Merlin spoke up.

“The sorcerer was not with the king, we need to find her and fight her.”

“We should split up, cover more ground” Leon suggested

“How? It takes at least three of us to trap six of them and there’s a lot of them lurking around” as soon as Elyan said that a new batch of undead showed up from the corner

“See?” Elyan exclaimed

But before they could move any further, they started burning in place. A little while later, all that remained was ash. The Knights all saw both Morgana and Merlin with golden eyes, easily taking out 12-15 of the undead from a good 5, 6 feet away.

“So maybe splitting up is a good idea” Elyan amended

“Leon, Percival, Elyan, go with Morgana and check the far east side of the castle. Be careful with the dungeons. Lancelot, Gwaine and I will go check the clock tower and the lower levels of the castle” Merlin said

As soon as they split up and he was out of Morgana’s sight, Merlin’s eyes turned golden and his clothes changed into his usual Emrys costume. A black cape magically appeared at his shoulders. Gwaine wolf whistled

“Always impressive Merlin” he said

“Can you use your magic to find out where she is?” Lancelot asked

“I’m not sure. I’ve done it with Arthur, but I don’t know if I can again” he said truthfully

“Well try” Gwaine encouraged

Merlin closed his eyes and concentrated. He had done this before when Arthur had gone to look for a flower for him back when he was poisoned. He had found him in his mind and chased him throughout his quest. Maybe, he could do the same.

It took intense amounts of concentration and a brief out of body experience for him to pinpoint where the sorcerer was. When he re-opened his eyes and came back into his own body he saw that Lancelot and Gwaine and Arthur were now fending off the undead around him.

Without moving an inch, he burnt them all.

“What are you doing here?” Emrys asked Arthur

“Cendread is dead but the castle was still infected. So I was fighting whatever I saw and trying to find my men” he quickly explained

“Hey, how come Arthur’s sword kills them but mine doesn’t?” Gwaine asked

“Magical Sword” Lancelot answered

“Huh. You know in some cultures, gifting a sword is the equivalent of a marriage proposal” Gwaine said and it was a testament to his personality that no one really knew if he was kidding or not.

“Doesn’t matter, I found the sorcerer. She’s in the vaults” Emrys said

“Well then let’s go” Arthur said already moving past a few undead and towards the vaults.

“I also want a magic sword” Gwaine grumbled and followed

Fighting a high priestess was an experience like no other. She was perhaps equally as strong as Emrys. Arthur was once again really glad that someone like Emrys was on his side and not fighting against him.

With a flick of her wrist and without even moving, she had the three of them stuck in their places. Only Emrys seemed immune to her magic. It made her smirk.

“You’re powerful. Why not join me? This kingdom needs magic and together we can bring it back” she said

“This kingdom does. But it not you nor I who will do it. Arthur and Morgana will bring magic back and they will do it in the right manner, unlike you” Emrys snarled

“Why serve Arthur or Morgana when you could rule without them?” she taunted

“I’d rather serve a good person, than rule with an evil one” Emrys replied

His eyes flashed brighter and his body stiffened and then the vaults were shaking

“Emrys?” Arthur whispered clearly worried for his friend

The earthquake destabilised Morgause. She held the cup of life, protecting any blood from spilling out and commanded the undead to attack Emrys. But the undead could barely come near him. They couldn’t even come near enough to strike before they were burnt to ashes.

“I’m sorry” Emrys said. Then he started incanting a spell. Arthur knew it was powerful magic. He didn’t know anything about magic but he could feel its sheer power. One look at his knights and it was clear that they shared the epiphany.

It was now Morgause who stood still. She was trying to escape but Emrys’ magic was too strong for her. Just as Emrys finished the spell, Morgause burned. The screaming from Morgause and the shaking of the vault only stopped when the sorcerer turned into ashes.

As Emrys picked up and cleared the cup of life of its contents, the undead started falling away like dolls of sand. Arthur and the knights were now able to move.

“We need to regroup with Morgana, find the people, once again secure the castle” Arthur said, still in battle mode.

As the wind cleared and they came out of the vaults, the sun had risen.

They met up with Morgana, founds the knights and the people who were hiding, and were once again able to secure the castle. It took a good amount of time and when afternoon rolled around, Emrys had disappeared.

That night, Arthur once again had dinner with his sister, Merlin and all his knights. The kitchen staff while unable to prepare a big feast, were still able to come up with a good enough dinner. It was a joyous occasion, they had just retaken the castle but no one seemed particularly elated.

“Camelot is going to need a new King” Balinor said

“Your crowning ceremony has to be soon” Morgana agreed

Arthur nodded

“I’m going to give my father a proper funeral. And one for King Cendread as well. And after that we will deal with the crowning ceremony” he said as his final decision

;;;;;

The great dragon will never forget the irony of King Uther’s fate. The man who sentenced hundreds of innocents to death had his funeral pyre burning right alongside that of his killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uther is finally dead!!  
> On a different note, Merlin randomly blurting things out is amazing XD  
> Merlin and Morgana fighting together and barely having to break a sweat while it took all the knights to capture a few undead XD XD I laughed so much while writing this!!  
> The next chapter will be the last chapter and it will be up on Thursday :)


	14. Last Chapter

Arthur became a king and just like he had promised Emrys, he changed the laws against magic users. Magic was once again free in Camelot. It took months of work but he was slowly starting to see magic coming back into the streets openly.

He and his supporters spent months trying to convince people to accept magic again. But they had to do more work to convince the magic users to accept Camelot again. Morgana openly being the face of magic users living in the castle of Camelot helped quite a bit.

Emrys, Merlin, Giaus and Alice being regular people, did their best to convince other regular people to accept magic. They worked well with the common people and usually worked behind the scenes. Even Arthur didn’t know how and what they did. He just knew that the people trusted them and that was good enough for him.

Arthur was happy, he was satisfied. He felt like he was really doing something for his people. If only it didn’t take so much of his time.

In three months he just hadn’t gotten enough time to sit down and talk to Emrys. It was also annoying that he still didn’t have a way to contact him. Most days he would wake up with flowers in his room and the fire still burning and he just knew that Emrys had visited him the night before. But he was usually so tired he just couldn’t stay awake. And Emrys never woke him up either.

There was one time when Arthur had woken up when Emrys had come in. But he had just pulled him into bed and snuggled up to him. “Don’t leave in the morning” is what he and told him before falling asleep. He had woken up to an empty bed but with roses in his room.

He wasn’t angry, not really. He had no reason to be. But he really did wish he had more time to spend with Emrys. To talk to him, ask him if the magic world was happy. To offer him a court sorcerer position.

The other thing that he had never really gotten around to was talking with Merlin. Merlin, his clumsy manservant, his best friend had told him he had magic and then they just…never talked about it. Arthur had not seen Merlin use magic. Even now, even when magic was allowed, Arthur usually found Merlin doing his chores manually.

Was he still scared? Or was he just not powerful enough? Or maybe he was as clumsy with his spells as he was with everything else.

He had tried to talk to Merlin about it. Once. And that had not gone well. Merlin became fidgety, shifty and it was obviously clear that he was not comfortable to have this conversation at all. Arthur had dismissed him with a wave of his hand. And had told him that they could have this conversation when Merlin felt comfortable enough for it.

Merlin had smiled in relief. But till date had just opted to not speak about it.

It was four months after the ban on magic had officially lifted. There was a feast because now they could afford to celebrate it without the danger of someone wanting Arthur or Morgana dead. It was amazing, it was fun. The druids had attended and so had the high priests and priestesses. By just showing up, they were accepting Camelot and its new rules and Arthur was over the moon with happiness.

That happiness only grew when he woke up the next morning with Emrys in his room. Of course he hadn’t woken up to Emrys in his bad (though one day he swore he would). But he was here in his room, roses on his table, clearly just waiting for Arthur to wake up.

“Emrys” Arthur said in a sleepy voice

“Rise and Shine Arthur” Emrys said with a smile. It made Arthur chuckle.

“I believe I have something to tell you” he said all serious now.

That was when Arthur realised that they were going to have this conversation now. Emrys must have finally gotten permission from Giaus to reveal himself. Or maybe he was doing it on his own violation. Either way Arthur was still in his sleep clothes, still on his bed and they were having this conversation.

Arthur cleared his throat

“Tell me them” he said

His words seem to work like a command. Emrys stood in front of him. Close enough that Artur could reach out to him. But he didn’t, not yet. Emrys closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then when he opened it, his eyes weren’t golden but a nice shade of blue

_Those eyes…_

His green neckerchief lost its charm and turned into a ragged red cloth. His black cape receded into nothing, then disappeared altogether. His mask slowly disappeared from his face. And there it was standing in front of him.

Merlin

Arthur was shocked. Breathing stopped, eyes blown wide, shocked! Then slowly, like a puzzle the pieces starting setting into place. Merlin and Emrys had arguably never been in the same room. The time with Sophia, he didn’t remember. And there was no other time in his brain where he recall Emrys and Merlin together.

They had spent a few hours in Morgana’s castle. But while Arthur had accompanied Emrys, he had no idea where Merlin was. He had assumed that he was with one of the knights.

The more time he took to think, the more Merlin’s face lost confidence. Gone was the powerful sorcerer. Now the man standing in front of him was fidgeting and was clearly uncomfortable. The same like he had been all those months ago.

That was when it hit Arthur. This was Merlin, finally sharing his secret with him. And he was not doing a good job of accepting it.

So he got out of bed and moved closer to Merlin. He wasn’t sure what he could say to make it better so instead he just pulled him into his arms. He had hugged Emrys tons of times but he usually teased Merlin and refused to hug him.

Not anymore.

“Are you not disappointed?” Merlin whispered. He was stiff in Arthur’s embrace, clearly still not comfortable.

“Never. I told you Merlin, I know you. And I know Emrys. I know you love magic more than you value your own life. I know that you feel everything very deep. I know you frown when you concentrate. I know you prefer apples which are sweet. I know Merlin and I know Emrys even if I didn’t know you were the same person” Arthur confessed

It seemed to be the right thing to say. Because Merlin’s shoulder sagged in relief and he finally out his own arms around Arthur, returning the hug.

“This changes nothing Merlin. I have my best friend and my lover in the same person. How many people in the world would be as lucky as me?” Arthur said and just to prove his point, kissed Merlin’s cheek.

Merlin sniffed and Arthur held him tighter

“Is Emrys really your name?” Arthur asked after a while.

“It was the name that the druids gave me a long time ago. I’ve used it ever since. I use both names. Merlin, the name that my mother gave me and Emrys, the name that the druids gave me”

“Hmm…so like a last name. Merlin Emrys. Sounds nice”

Merlin chuckled

“So I just have one more question to ask you” Arthur said. He pulled Merlin’s hand kissed the back of it.

“Will you be my court sorcerer?”

;;;;;

Merlin was the biggest over achiever that he knew.

Court sorcerer of Camelot, backup physician, Learning the art of mixing magic and science from Alice, and part time dragon lord along with still behaving like Arthur’s manservant. Merlin was doing a lot more now than he was before. But to his surprise he felt less tired and more happy. Probably because now, he was allowed to use his magic openly. And Magic did a lot of his chores for him.

Arthur was ridiculously proud!

His kingdom, his people, his knights, his lover. It felt like everything in his life had settled down nicely. A year after Merlin Emrys was made official court sorcerer, there was a wedding.

Merlin was over the moon happy and frantically preparing for it. Gwen and Morgana had come for the visit and Gwen and Merlin had immediately took upon the job of preparing for the wedding.

Afterall, it was not every day that your Mentor got married to the love of his life who he had thought he had lost almost 20 years ago.

Yes, the wedding of the two official court physicians, Giaus and Alice, was a big affair in the castle of Camelot. Everyone was happy for them. Arthur gave them their blessings and had even told them that it will be treated like an official royal wedding. And that he would be very happy to provide the throne room for the official wedding.

The wedding also gave him a nice excuse to talk to Morgana.

“I’ve been so worried about you, but you seem to be doing just fine” He told her

“The borders are safe and secure Arthur. Camelot under your rule has only become safer and stronger. The skirmishes are few and far between. We’ve even had less reports of bandits” Morgana said with a smile

“That’s probably because Camelot’s Queen is taking care of it”

They both smiled

“Morgana?”

“Hmm?”

“I know you like your castle and I know you’re doing a fantastic job as queen but sometimes I wish you were still living in Camelot’s castle with me.” Arthur honestly said

“You know, I probably don’t need to live in the castle all the time. I could leave Balinor in charge and stay for a few months here in Camelot. Or go patrol the other side of the kingdom. I can also come done for festivities like these” she said

“But you wouldn’t move back permanently?”

“Maybe someday, Arthur but I really can’t stay.” She said. Then she laughed “I might have to because of Gwen though” she said

“Gwen? Why?”

“She refuses to leave my side. She’s extremely loyal but I know it’s hurting her relationship with Lancelot. I want her to be happy. She’s my dearest friend. For her, maybe I will”

Arthur hummed, seemingly lost in thought

“Yeah. There are a lot of things that I’d do for Merlin too” he said

“But Merlin is your lover. Please tell me he’s not still your manservant” Morgana said.

She knew about how much difficulty Arthur had in keeping a servant. Back when he was younger and more self-absorbed. Gwen had been with Morgana since she was 12. But Arthur went through servant changes up until Merlin entered his life and taught him some humility.

“I can’t stop him! I’ve offered but he’s very possessive of his manservant position. You know King Olaf was here last month? Apparently, they are still looking for a cure for Vivian. He wanted Merlin’s help and he bought gifts but Merlin, that fool, just gave them back, saying that he was just the King’s man servant and nothing else” Arthur complained

Morgana just laughed. Finding the whole thing rather ridiculous

But their conversation was cut short when Merlin entered the room

“Why are you still not dressed? We have a wedding to get to” he said

“Well, I would be if you were on time” Arthur swiftly said without even stopping to think about it.

Morgana just laughed harder

;;;;

An entire year after Giaus and Alice’s wedding, there was another wedding in the court of Camelot.

The dragon lord Balinor was marrying the Lady Hunith

“Wait, your parents aren’t married?” Morgana asked

“No, I was born before they could get married. And then My father was on the run from Uther. Then when they met again, they needed time to sort of their relationship. And now finally they’re getting married” Merlin said unable to contain his smile.

Merlin had been smiling for days. Since his parents made the announcement all the way up till the actual date of the wedding, Merlin just hadn’t stopped smiling. He was even more frantic that when he was in Giaus’ wedding.

“Almost two years in my castle and I never once thought they weren’t married” Morgana said

“I wouldn’t have known either, had Merlin not told me himself” Arthur said

“But I’m glad for them, and for you, Merlin” he said. Then gave him a quick peck on the lips just because he could.

Arthur was able to make so many changes in Camelot. He was really able to establish Camelot. But he was unable to change Balinor’s mind. Balinor had only agreed to get married in Arthur’s castle instead of Morgana’s because Hunith and Merlin had wanted it.

He was still wary of Camelot. Maybe not of its ruler. But just the streets of Camelot. He had confided in Merlin and told him that he couldn’t walk down the streets of Camelot without feeling like everyone was watching him and that people were going to attack him any moment.

Merlin had accepted his reasoning and promptly assigned himself any duty that Balinor was supposed to perform. So he had taken his mum shopping, showed her around Camelot, gone to the forest to pay his respects to magic and to ask for their blessings, and anything else that Balinor asked of him.

In the end, the wedding was grand. Celebrated for a whole 2 days with feasts and parties and lots of Ale, to Gwaine’s unending pleasure. Hunith looked beautiful and Balinor, as proud as he was, couldn’t stop himself from tearing up on the day of the wedding.

Merlin was over the moon and Arthur once again thanked his stars for having such amazing people in his life.

;;;;

It was a nice cold winter morning and Arthur had convinced Merlin to stay in Bed with him and snuggle instead of going about their morning duties. These days he was able to wake up to his lover comfortable and cosy and very much in bed with him. He had never thought that just waking up to someone would give him so much happiness. But the days that started with Merlin’s smiles were always very lucky for him.

Now they were snuggled together. Arthur was still warm and very much ready to just fall back asleep. Merlin, who was wide awake was playing with Arthur’s hair.

“I think Gwen and Lancelot are planning to get married this spring” Merlin said. He did that sometimes. He informed Arthur about all that went on in the castle, either during breakfast or dinner.

Morgana and Gwen had more or less moved back to Camelot. Well, Gwen had permanently moved back. Morgana spent eight out of 12 months in Camelot. She spent two months in her castle each year and another two months travelling Camelot, solving border issues and learning about magic.

Her castle was now a secure foothold for magic users and Balinor did a wonderful job of keeping everyone in check. Some of the other dragon lord families had also come out of hiding and reclaimed their nobility titles. Arthur was very happy that people felt safe enough to come out of hiding now.

Dragon eggs were being found. Or more like they were being brought out of hiding. Balinor had found one such egg and had taught Merlin his first practical dragon lord lesson. Birthing and naming a dragon.

And when Aithusa had hatched, Arthur and Morgana had cried for hours. Merlin had to console them both. The whole affair was very touching. Aithusa now lived with them in Camelot. She was Merlin’s first dragon and currently his primary responsibility as dragon lord. Merlin would take care of her up until she was independent enough to be left in the wild.

“Lancelot proposed?” Arthur asked “How? When? Why was I not told about this?”

“Relax Arthur. He just proposed last week. I know because Gwen told me all about it. Remember last week, when I didn’t join you for dinner because I was eating dinner with Gwen?” Merlin explained stopping his hair petting movements for just a moment and resuming them again.

“No, Absolutley not! I forbid it!” Arthur said

“Forbid what? Dinner?”

“No, Gwen!”

“You forbid Gwen?” Merlin asked confused

“No, Merlin, that’s not it! The marriage! Why is everyone getting married before us? I wanted us to have the spring wedding this year” Arthur explained. In his excitement, he sprung up and sat on the bed. Then shivered because it was too cold

“But…I don’t want a spring wedding” Merlin said while using his magic to increase the fire in the hearth

“You don’t?”

“I was thinking more like, end of winter. It would be really pleasant” Merlin explained

“But it won’t be as pretty” Arthur countered

“We can always decorate the castle”

“We are having the wedding outside! In the royal garden!” Arthur emphasised “And there will be no flowers in Winter even by the end of winter”

“But why Arthur? Because the castle is definitely warmer and much better” Merlin countered

“Yes, Merlin but I want a magic wedding, not a regular wedding”

“You want a magic wedding?” Merlin asked sceptically “Like a druid handfasting?” he asked

“No, the magic wedding. The ones that used to happen before the purge” Arthur said.

Merlin just looked at him in confusion

“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” Arthur said

“Not even closely”

“I talked to Balinor about it _and_ Giaus, it’s a legit thing. A wedding where you take the vows in front of the high priestess or priest. Then you pledge loyalty in the name of the triple goddess. Then there’s the hand fasting. Then the ring exchange. And then because I’m king, there will also be a crowning ceremony. So that’s wedding, crowning ceremony, reception, then an official prayer meet to the gods of the old religion” Arthur elaborated.

Merlin looked at him in complete Awe. Arthur really had gone the whole nine yards. He wouldn’t be surprised if Arthur knew the exact food that he wanted on the feast of their wedding. How long had he been thinking of marrying him?

“Umm… okay then we can get married” Merlin said blushing red

“No way. Lancelot and Gwen’s wedding has to be the biggest one this year. Morgana will skin me alive otherwise” Arthur said

“Next year then?”

“Next year”

;;;;;

Preparing for Arthur and Merlin’s wedding was a mess. Arthur was adamant about the magic wedding and Merlin really couldn’t argue. But he didn’t back down about wanting it at the end of winter either. He finally won that argument by saying that winters are always a good time for Dragons.

Arthur quickly conceded after that. No matter what he said, he loved Aithusa with all his heart. He was also the first person Aithusa spoke to. Arthur had cried while telling Merlin about it and Merlin had fallen a little bit more in love with the both of them.

Nobody knew when they got engaged. There had never been a formal engagement, no proposal. Just a half-angry conversation one winter morning. Merlin jokingly says that he has Lancelot and Gwen to thank for his engagement but he never elaborated. Soon enough it had become a joke between Arthur and Merlin.

The day of the wedding was beautiful. It was not too cold, just pleasant enough that you could be outside with a light jacket. The Royal Garden had no flowers but the leaf-less garden was still beautifully decorated with streamers.

Arthur and Merlin were both dressed to the nine but with no crown on their head. This wasn’t King of Camelot getting married to his court sorcerer. This was Arthur marrying the love of his life. The wedding was being proceeded by a high Priest who Giaus knew. There were the vows and the handfasting.

When the time came to exchange rings, Merlin surprised Arthur by presenting him a pair of beautiful white rings. They were shiny but looked positively brittle.

“It’s from Aithusa’s scale. The strongest thing to exist. No force of nature, no sword of man will be able to break it. Though I think Excalibur might” Merlin informed him.

Arthur was awed. But more than that, he was touched. It was a fitting ring, for their bond. Their bond that could not be broken by any force of nature or any sword of man. And as long as Excalibur was in his hands, it would never be used against Merlin Emrys.

“Merlin, it’s amazing!” he said

“It’s a dragon lord thing. Mum and Dad have ones made with Kilgarrah’s scales so I thought we should do it with Aithusa’s scales” Merlin confessed.

Arthur smiled like a fool, when the winter sunlight caught on the rings and it glittered like millions of tiny diamonds.

The crowing ceremony, thankfully was inside the castle. Merlin’s nose had gone red due to the cold. The castle was much warmer and Merlin was thankful for it. The rest of the ceremonies went without a hitch. Except for Merlin and Arthur constantly laughing.

Arthur placed the crown on Merlin’s head. Then because he was an utter prat, had messed up Merlin’s hair. This made Merlin and the guests giggle while Arthur just smiled on. So by the time the feast rolled on Merlin had made it a point to make Arthur laugh as much as possible.

Every ritual of the old religion was followed. Arthur had made his intentions very clear to the world. This was the Camelot he was making. One where magic was not only free but also thriving. And he was doing it alongside Merlin Emrys, a powerful sorcerer and protector of magic.

This was a brand-new beginning. They had a long journey ahead and were going to make it together.

Together they united Albion and made it prosperous. History remembers them, their legend and their love. And long after their deaths, their stories are still shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, college is exhausting!  
> But this story is finally over! I hope you liked it and I hope I did justice to your expectation.  
> Having said that, wish you all the best for life and lots of love in your everyday <3


End file.
